REST API和Web客户端的服务器配置

Question

I developed a REST API with go (golang), and now I want to design my web frontend. I don't know how can I separate frontend from backend.

I think that I have three choices:

1- Run REST API on one server and the frontend website on another server.

2- Run REST API and frontend website on the same server, but on different ports. For example run REST on port 8080 and frontend website on port 80.

3- Run Both on the same server and the same port, but use different URL paths (or subdomains) for each one.

As I don't know about this stuff, please tell me which one is true or best solution. Or is there any other solution? Does it matter how big my website is?

Answer 1

Either the first or second options will be mostly the same for you to set up and develop with. So you don't lose or gain anything from that perspective, the only deciding factor is your resources and how you expect your backend to be used in the future.

Currently, if you only have one application/frontend calling on the API, having them be on the same server will be the better option since it will have a marginally increased performance compared to the second option.

But, since you chose a RESTful design for your backend, you might want to reuse it for more applications in the future, and if you expect that the increase in calls to the API will start to use up the server resources, then your frontend might suffer from it and then you should consider relocating the backend to a different server.

The whole microservices, RESTful backend design "pattern" was created to decouple the front and back for better scaling, but that might not be necessary for everyone, you have to estimate the amount of use your application will realistically have and think if you might actually reuse the API elsewhere (or if you want to offer the API for others or not).

In the end, if the first and second option present a similar amount of investment for you at the moment, go for the first one, if not, just keep both front and back on the same server and if in the future you realize you need to scale out, you can just relocate the API to a different server/servers.