Drupal is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) in the world. It has a lot of powerful features that make it a great choice for building websites and web applications. However, a complete website includes an interactive front-end as well.

What if you don't want to use Drupal to handle the front-end of your web app? Are you not sure whether Drupal would be a good choice for the front-end of your site? Let’s introduce you with headless Drupal back-end. In this article, we'll explore what a headless Drupal back-end is, why you might want to use one, and how to set it up for your next web app.

What is a Headless Drupal back-end?

A Headless Drupal back-end is essentially a Drupal installation that is used solely to manage the content and data for a web application. Instead of using Drupal to handle the front-end of the site (i.e. the part that the user interacts with), you build a separate front-end application that communicates with Drupal through an API (application programming interface).

Why use a Headless Drupal back-end?

There are a few reasons why you might want to use a headless Drupal back-end for your web app:

• 1. Flexibility: Using a headless Drupal back-end gives you more flexibility when it comes to designing and building your web app's front-end. You can use any front-end framework or technology you want, without being tied to Drupal's built-in front-end system.
  
  
• 2. Scalability: By separating the front-end and back-end of your web app, you can more easily scale each component independently. If you need to add more resources to handle increased traffic, you can do so without affecting the other component.
  
  
• 3. Security: Separating the front-end and back-end of your web app can also help improve security. Because the Drupal installation is only accessible via an API, you can more easily control who has access to it and what they can do with it.
  
  
• 4. Reusability: If you have multiple web apps that require the same content and data, you can reuse the same Drupal installation for all of them. This can save you time and resources when it comes to content management.

Setting up a Headless Drupal back-end

Now that we've covered the benefits of using a headless Drupal back-end, let's look at how to set one up. Here are the basic steps you'll need to follow:

• 1. Install Drupal: The first step is to install Drupal on your server. You'll want to make sure you have the latest version of Drupal, as well as any necessary modules or plugins for your specific use case.
  
  
• 2. Create content types: Next, you'll need to create the content types that your web app will use to store data. For example, if you're building a blog, you might create content types for blog posts, authors, and categories.
  
  
• 3. Create fields: Once you've created your content types, you'll need to add fields to them. Fields are the individual pieces of data that your content types will store. For example, a blog post content type might have fields for the post title, body, author, and publication date.
  
  
• 4. Create views: Views are a powerful Drupal feature that allow you to display content in a variety of ways. You'll want to create views that will be used to fetch data from Drupal for your web app's front-end.
  
  
• 5. Install and configure RESTful web services: To communicate with Drupal's API, you'll need to install and configure the RESTful Web Services module. This module allows you to expose your Drupal content types and views as RESTful endpoints.
  
  
• 6. Build the front-End: With your Drupal back-end set up, you can now build your web app's front-end using any front-end framework or technology you want. You'll need to make API requests to fetch data from Drupal, and then use that data to build your front-end components.
  
  
• 7. Authenticate API requests: To ensure that only authorized users can access your Drupal data, you'll need to authenticate API requests. You can use Drupal's built-in user authentication system or implement a third-party authentication system such as OAuth.
  
  
• 8. Test and deploy: Once you've built your web app's front-end and authenticated API requests, it's time to test and deploy your application. You'll want to thoroughly test your application to ensure that everything is working as expected, and then deploy it to your production environment.

Best Practices for Headless Drupal back-end

While headless Drupal back-ends offer a lot of benefits, there are some best practices that you should follow to ensure that your application is secure, scalable, and maintainable:

• 1. Keep your Drupal installation secure: Because your Drupal installation will contain all of your web app's content and data, it's important to keep it secure. Make sure you're using the latest version of Drupal, and regularly install security updates.
  
  
• 2. Use caching: To improve performance and reduce server load, use caching wherever possible. Drupal has a built-in caching system that you can configure to suit your specific needs.
  
  
• 3. Monitor server resources: Because you're separating the front-end and back-end of your web app, you'll need to monitor server resources separately for each component. Make sure you have adequate resources allocated to your Drupal installation to handle traffic and content management.
  
  
• 4. Use version control: To ensure that your code is easily maintainable and scalable, use version control such as Git to manage your codebase.

Conclusion

Headless Drupal backend can be a powerful tool for building web applications that require a lot of content and data management. By separating the front-end and back-end of your application, you can gain greater flexibility, scalability, security, and reusability. To set up a headless Drupal backend, you'll need to install Drupal, create content types and fields, create views, install and configure RESTful Web Services, build your front-end, authenticate API requests, and test and deploy your application. By following best practices such as keeping your Drupal installation secure, using caching, monitoring server resources, and using version control, you can ensure that your headless Drupal backend is scalable, maintainable, and secure.