Install API Portal

Install or uninstall API Portal on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or CentOS.

4 minute read

This section describes the steps to install or uninstall API Portal as software installation on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or CentOS.

Before you start, check the Installation prerequisites.

Install API Portal software

To install API Portal:

  1. Download the installation package for your OS from Axway Support, and upload it to your host machine.

  2. Make sure your user has sudo privileges: (This should print out wheel)

    groups | grep -o '\bwheel\b'
    
  3. Extract the installation package:

    tar xpvzf <package_name>.tgz
    
  4. Run the install script:

    sudo ./apiportal_install.sh
    
  5. Enter the appropriate values when prompted by the installation script. The options include:

    • Change the default install path. API Portal is installed at /opt/axway/apiportal/htdoc by default, but you can specify a custom path. The folders specified in the custom path are created if they do not already exist.
    • Use MySQL in SSL mode (with one way authentication or two way authentication). The certificates generated from MySQL Server must be located in /etc/mysql/certs/.
    • Database connection details. The default port is 3306 or you can specify a different one. The database user is the user you created for API Portal. See Configure the database server.
    • Install API Portal in a high availability cluster setup with database replication.
    • Do you want to encrypt your database password (Password will be stored encrypted)(Y/N)?
    • Enter passphrase (It will be used as encryption key for the database password).
    • Please, re-type the same passphrase again.
    • Configure Joomla! Administrator Interface administrator account password.
    • Enable or disable Joomla! Administrator Interface administrator account password reset on the first login.
    • Locations of php.ini and apiportal.conf configuration files.
    • Encrypt the Public API mode user password and store the encryption key in a specified directory. The directory is created along with a file. The last segment of the directory is the file name. For example: /sample/directory/for/encryption/key creates an empty file named “key” in the desired directory. You can also use a script to encrypt the password later. For more information, see Encrypt the Public API user password (optional).
    • Configure API Portal with SSL/TLS. For HTTPS, you can either provide a certificate and private key, or use a self-signed certificate. For more information, see Configure API Portal to run with HTTP or HTTPS.
  6. Run the following commands to update your SELinux configuration and complete API Portal installation:

    sudo setsebool -P httpd_read_user_content 1
    sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect 1
    sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect_db 1
    sudo setsebool -P httpd_unified 1
    

Watch this video to learn more about installing API Portal using a non-root user:

Configure API Portal to run with HTTP or HTTPS

This section describes the options to configure API Portal with HTTP or HTTPS.

Run API Portal with HTTP

If you choose not to configure SSL/TLS, API Portal runs with plain HTTP.

Run API Portal with HTTPS

If you choose to configure SSL/TLS, API Portal runs with HTTPS and you can choose one of the following options:

  1. Custom certificate:

    • The installation prompts you for the path to a certificate and private key, and for the host name.
    • API Portal is configured to run with HTTPS using the provided certificate and key.
    • The installer does not make any SSL-related Apache configuration. You might need to change the SSLPassPhraseDialog setting.
  2. Self-signed certificate:

    • The installation generates a self-signed certificate and API Portal is configured to run with HTTPS using the self signed certificate.

To complete the HTTP/HTTPS configuration, you must restart Apache. The installation script tries to detect the Apache service and prompts you to restart it. If the script cannot detect Apache you must manually restart Apache.

Install Joomla! components

You must install the EasyBlog and EasyDiscuss components.

  1. Log in to the Joomla! Administrator Interface (JAI) (https://<API Portal host>/administrator) using the default Joomla! administrator credentials.

    Contact your Axway Account Manager to retrieve the default administrator credentials. It is mandatory that you change these credentials when you first log in. If after the installation you experience difficulties with the Joomla! administrator password, you can try to reset the password. For more details, see How do you recover or reset your admin password?

  2. Click Components > EasyBlog > Dashboard, and follow the instructions in the EasyBlog installer.

  3. Click Components > EasyDiscuss > Dashboard, and repeat the component installation as described for EasyBlog.

    Do not install any of the modules and plugins unless you plan to use them. To prevent installing any modules, click Modules and deselect Select All, then repeat the same for Plugins.

  4. If a newer version is available for EasyBlog or EasyDiscuss, click Update Now to update the component.

Uninstall API Portal software

To uninstall the API Portal software:

  1. Change to the directory containing the API Portal installation package.

  2. Run the uninstall script:

    sudo ./apiportal_uninstall.sh
    
  3. Enter the appropriate values when prompted by the uninstall script.

    When prompted for the MySQL user name, do not use the SSL MySQL user. Use an ordinary MySQL user that requires only a user name and password. The user must have privileges to drop the API Portal database.