Summary

A global pharmaceutical company migrated from AWS ALB to API Gateway, increasing payload capacity six-fold, simplifying authentication, and improving scalability and developer experience.

Challenge

The client, a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Israel, faced architectural limitations with AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB). The ALB-to-Lambda integration restricted payloads to 1 MB, blocking critical application features. Additionally, the company needed to maintain secure authentication with an external identity provider, which added complexity to modernization efforts.

The objective was to expand payload capacity while ensuring secure OAuth/OIDC authentication. A unified API gateway architecture was needed to support larger payloads and integrate seamlessly with the identity provider.

Solution

Marlabs executed a phased migration strategy to modernize the client’s API architecture.

Architecture redesign

In the first phase, the team transitioned from a hybrid ALB/API Gateway setup to a unified API Gateway solution. This redesign included infrastructure planning, cloud architecture updates, and DevOps automation. Security and compliance validation ensured the new architecture met enterprise standards while supporting scalability and maintainability.

JWT authorizer integration

The second phase focused on configuring JWT authorizers within AWS API Gateway. These authorizers were integrated with the client’s external identity provider to enable secure OAuth/OIDC authentication. DevOps pipelines were updated to manage identity workflows, and rigorous testing ensured secure and reliable access across endpoints.

Frontend deployment

In the final phase, the team implemented frontend token management and completed deployment. This included developing token handling mechanisms, managing release cycles, and conducting end-to-end testing. Monitoring and logging were enabled to ensure visibility and performance across the new architecture.

Results

The migration delivered significant improvements:

• Increased payload support: Payload limit expanded from 1 MB to 6 MB across all endpoints.
• Unified authentication: All API endpoints are secured through JWT-based identity provider integration.
• Simplified infrastructure: Migration removed ALB/API Gateway complexity and reduced maintenance overhead.
• Improved scalability: Serverless API Gateway enabled automatic scaling for variable workloads.
• Faster delivery: The entire migration was completed in under 3 weeks.
• Better developer experience: Centralized API management improved productivity and reduced errors.

Impact

The modernization initiative delivered lasting benefits:

• Increased payload capacity across endpoints
• Unified authentication with JWT authorizers
• Simplified infrastructure and reduced overhead
• Improved scalability for dynamic workloads
• Faster go-to-market for new features
• Better developer experience and productivity

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