Installing IBM API Connect v2018.4.1.x on VMware

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Hey,

 Our first blog would be on IBM API connect v2018.4.1.x latest version installation. It is offered in several deployment options  such as cloud public, cloud private, on premise and reserved instance.

 In this post, I will walk you through the on-premise installation. There are various options (VMware, K8s, ICP and OpenShift) available to setup the environment. After lot of research, I have chosen VMware as it is easy and quick to setup. So I would like to share the process that I have followed to setup this environment and to start exploring the new version.

Installing IBM API Connect v2018.4.1.x on VMware

To install and setup a simple API Connect v2018 environment on-premises, we need to setup the below API Connect components:
  1. API Manager
  2. Analytics
  3. Developer Portal
  4. DataPower Gateway

Deployment requirements on VMware

  1. 4 Linux/Unix VMs with the below configuration(minimum)
    • 4 core CPU
    • 16 GB RAM
  2. Verify you have access to Passport Advantage® to download the Install Assist package and the latest IBM API Connect packages for your operating system.
Fig:1
3. For each subsystem, gather the following networking settings, which you will need to supply during configuration
  • IP address of the server
  • Host names
  • Domain of the server
  • IP addresses of the domain name servers
  • IP address of the gateway server
  • Subnet Mask
  • Name of Ethernet interface
4. Ensure that your operating system has one of the supported utilities for creating ISOs

 The apicup installer uses mkisofs on Linux, and hdiutil on macOS. For Windows, you need software that creates ISO files using mkisofs, such as CDRTools.

Installing API Manager Component or Deploying Management Subsystem

1)      Download IBM API Connect Install Assist(apicup.exe)
In order to make installation much easier I am using API Connect Install Assist. Install Assist is a binary executable that automatically manages certificates creation and configuration for deployment. IBM provides VMware images in API Connect Install Assist and we need to provide the VMware environment.
Install Assist is available as a Mac, Windows and Linux download. I have already downloaded Install Assist (Windows) from Passport Advantage
2)      Set your path to the location of your apicup file.
set PATH=c:\your_path;%PATH%
     Fig:2

3)   Create a project called myProject and optionally copy the apicup executable into the project directory:

   Fig: 3

   The apiconnect-up.yml file is created in that directory
4)      Change to the myProject directory and run the below command to create management subsystem
apicup subsys create mgmt management
Where:
mgmt is the name of your management server that you are creating. This identifier must be lowercase and alphanumeric with no spaces. This example uses mgmt.
management indicates that you are creating a management microservice.

Once we run this command, apiconnect-up.yml file will be updated with the management subsystem details

          Fig: 4
The below are the mandatory parameters (related to network information and endpoints) that should be added to the apiconnect-up.yml file by running the below commands

     Fig: 5

You can read about the above commands in the below IBM info center link
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSMNED_2018/com.ibm.apic.install.doc/overview_installing_mgmtvm_apimgmt.html
5)      Create ISO file
Go to the myProject directory and run the below command
apicup subsys install mgmt --out mgmtplan-out
The --out parameter and value are required

     Fig: 6

The ISO file is created in the myProject/mgmtplan-out directory.

Note: If the system cannot find the path to your software that creates ISO files, create a path setting to that software by running a command similar to the following command:
set PATH="c:\Program Files (x86)\cdrtools";%PATH%

 Fig: 7

6)      Create VM and deploy the ova along with the above ISO file

a)      Log into the VMware vSphere Web Client.
b)      Using the VSphere Navigator, navigate to the directory where you are deploying the OVA file.
c)       Right-click the directory and select Deploy OVF Template.
d)      Complete the Deploy OVF Template wizard.
                                i.  Select the “apiconnect-management.ova” template by navigating to the location where you downloaded the file from Passport Advantage®.
                                                   ii.      Enter a name and location for your file.
                                                   iii.      Select a resource for your template.
                                                   iv.      Review the details for your template.
                                                   v.      Select the size of your configuration.
                                                   vi.      Select the storage settings.
                                                   vii.      Select the networks.
                                                   viii.      Customize the Template, if necessary.
                                                   ix.      Review the details to ensure that they are correct.
                                                   x.      Select Finish to deploy the virtual machine.

e)      Select the Storage tab in the Navigator.
f)        Navigate to your datastore.
g)      Upload your ISO file.
                                                   i.  Select the Navigate to the datastore file browser icon in the icon menu.
                                                  ii.  Select the Upload a file to the Datastore icon in the icon menu.
                                                  iii. Navigate to the ISO file that you created in your project.
                                                  iv.  It is the myProject/mgmtplan-out
                                                  v.  Upload the ISO file to the datastore.
h)      Leave the datastore by selecting the VMs and Templates icon in the Navigator.
i)        Locate and select your virtual machine.
j)        Select the Configure tab in the main window.
k)      Select Edit....
                                                                             i.     On the Virtual Hardware tab, select CD/DVD Drive 1.
                                                                             ii.    For the Client Device, select Datastore ISO File.
                                                                            iii.  Find and select your datastore in the Datastores category.
                                                                            iv.   Find and select your ISO file in the Contents category.
                                                                            v.    Select OK to commit your selection and exit the Select File window.
                                                                            vi.  Ensure that the Connect at Power On check box is selected.
                                                                           vii. Select OK to commit your selection and close the window.
l)        Start the virtual machine by selecting the play button on the icon bar.
The installation might take several minutes to complete, depending on the availability of the system and the download speed.
7)      Log in to the virtual machine by using an SSH tool to check the status of the installation
a)  Enter the following command to connect to mgmt using SSH
ssh ip_address -l apicadm
You are logging in with the default ID of apicadm, which is the API Connect ID that has administrator privileges
b) Run the apic status command to verify that the installation completed and the system is running correctly
The command output for a correctly running Management system is similar to the following lines:
Fig: 8.1
Fig: 8.2


 8)      When all subsystems are running, verify you can access the API Connect Cloud Manager. Enter the URL in your browser.
The syntax is https://<hostname.domain>/admin.
For example:
https://cloud-admin-ui.apicmgmtus.ad.******.com/admin
Username/Pass (Default): admin/7iron-hide (you are prompted to change when you login for the first time)

Fig: 9



 Note:
Please follow the same process while deploying the Analytics and Developer Portal subsystems. When you want to configure the other 2 subsystems, it is important that you reuse the same project directory. This means that you only need to download Install Assist once, and create a project directory once. The configuration settings for the other 2 subsystems are added to the existing apiconnect-up.yml. In this way, the second subsystem, such as Developer Portal, can access the configuration information needed to interact with the first subsystem. Also deploying DataPower VM is not mentioned in this post. You need to do that explicitly

Reference:

 https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSMNED_2018/com.ibm.apic.install.doc/installing_vm.html

Comments

  1. Kushal durgamMarch 28, 2020 at 10:28 AM

    Your blog is really very informative and useful.but I have one doubt or question.whatvis the use of installing 8bm api connect for someone who is working on banking domain?what are the advantages that we have in our current application with this api connect of ibm?we have many analytics tools available outside aswell.can u elaborate on end user advantage and benfits for the one using ibm api connect and developing the apps?also what kind of apps are suitable to build with this?

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