Building a Link-Shortening Microservice with Axum
Build a production-ready link shortening microservice using Rust and the Axum web framework. This comprehensive guide covers everything from basic URL shortening algorithms to advanced features like analytics, authentication, and rate limiting.
Link shortening services like bit.ly and tinyurl.com seem simple on the surface, but building one that scales requires careful consideration of algorithms, database design, and service architecture. This course teaches you to build a service that can handle millions of URLs efficiently.
Modern Web Development with Rust
Axum represents the cutting edge of Rust web development, offering excellent performance while maintaining ergonomic APIs. You'll learn to leverage Rust's type system to build APIs that are both fast and reliable, with compile-time guarantees about correctness.
Complete Feature Set
Your microservice will include:
- Fast URL encoding and decoding
- Custom domain support
- Click analytics and statistics
- User authentication and API keys
- Rate limiting and abuse prevention
- Comprehensive admin dashboard
- RESTful API with proper documentation
Scalability and Performance
The course emphasizes building for scale from day one:
- Efficient database schema design
- Connection pooling and query optimization
- Caching strategies for hot URLs
- Horizontal scaling considerations
- Performance monitoring and metrics
Production Deployment
Learn industry best practices for deploying Rust web services:
- Docker containerization
- Environment-based configuration
- Logging and observability
- Health checks and graceful shutdown
- CI/CD pipeline integration
Real-World Application
The patterns you'll learn apply to any web service:
- RESTful API design
- Authentication and authorization
- Database modeling and optimization
- Microservice communication patterns
- Service monitoring and maintenance
This isn't just about URL shortening - it's about mastering modern web service development with Rust.
What you'll learn
- Build modern web APIs with Axum framework
- Implement efficient URL encoding algorithms
- Design RESTful service architectures
- Master async web development in Rust
- Integrate with databases using SQLx
- Implement authentication and authorization
- Add rate limiting and security features
- Deploy microservices with Docker and containers
Requirements
- Basic Rust programming knowledge
- Understanding of HTTP and REST concepts
- Basic familiarity with databases
- Command line experience
Course Contents
Microservice Architecture
Designing scalable microservice architectures
- Microservice Design Principles
- API Design Best Practices
- Service Boundaries
- Error Handling Strategies
Axum Framework Fundamentals
Getting started with Rust's fastest web framework
- Axum Setup and Configuration
- Routing and Handlers
- Middleware Implementation
- Request/Response Handling
URL Shortening Algorithm
Implementing efficient and scalable URL encoding
- Base62 Encoding Implementation
- Collision Detection and Resolution
- Custom Domain Support
- Analytics and Tracking
Database Integration
Persistent storage with SQLx and PostgreSQL
- SQLx Setup and Migrations
- Connection Pooling
- Query Optimization
- Transaction Management
Authentication and Security
Securing your microservice
- JWT Authentication
- API Key Management
- Rate Limiting Implementation
- Input Validation and Sanitization
Testing and Deployment
Production-ready deployment strategies
- Unit and Integration Testing
- Docker Containerization
- Environment Configuration
- Monitoring and Logging
This book includes:
- Step-by-step coding walkthrough
- Complete source code
- Detailed explanations
- Real-world examples
- Complete Axum web service
- Database integration patterns
- Authentication and rate limiting
- Docker deployment setup
