Definition
Rate limiting is a technical control mechanism that restricts how many requests a client can send to an APIApplication Programming Interface - standardised interface that allows two systems to communicate with each other. or service within a given time window. Typical formats: 100 requests per minute, 10,000 per day. When the limit is reached, HTTP 429 Too Many Requests is returned. Rate limiting protects services against overload, unintentional load from buggy clients, and deliberate misuse. It is typically implemented using token bucket or sliding window algorithms. In the context of ElhubNational hub for metering data and market processes in the Norwegian electricity market.: Elhub's API has strict quotas for the number of messages per unit of time. A power supplier with many supplier switches per day may hit Elhub's rate limits and must implement queue logic with delays between messages. API gateways (Kong, AzureMicrosoft's cloud platform - strong in the enterprise segment, especially where Office 365 and Active Directory are already in use. API Management) handle rate limiting centrally for all upstream clients.