Glossary · System coordination, integration and orchestration
Integration endpoint
Also known as: endpoint, service endpoint
German: Integrationsendpunkt
In systems integration, an integration endpoint is an addressable access point of a system through which other systems send or receive data or invoke functions, defined by an address, a protocol, a data format and security settings.
- System integration
In one sentence
An integration endpoint is an addressable access point of a system, defined by address, protocol, data format and security settings.
Example
The MES offers an HTTPS endpoint for order download, an MQTT topic for machine states and an OPC UA endpoint for recipe parameters.
How it applies
- Engineering: Each endpoint needs a stable address, a versioning strategy and authentication. Changing an endpoint without notice breaks every consumer.
- Security: Every endpoint is part of the attack surface. Inventory endpoints, disable unused ones and restrict network access to the systems that need them.
- Documentation: Endpoint documentation should give address patterns, protocol, payload schema, authentication, error responses and version. For API endpoints, reference documentation generated from machine-readable specifications keeps documentation and implementation aligned.
Integration endpoint vs. interface
An interface (Interface (systems engineering)) is the agreed interaction between two systems, including behavior and responsibilities. An endpoint is the concrete technical access point through which one side of the interface is reached. One interface can involve several endpoints on each side.