Version: v1.8.x

Onboard a REST API without code changes required

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: 01/06/2021|

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As a user of Zowe™ API Mediation Layer, onboard an existing REST API service with the Zowe™ API Mediation Layer without changing the code of the API service. This is process is also described as static onboarding.

Note: When developing a new service, it is not recommended to onboard a REST service using this method, as this method is non-native to the API Mediaiton Layer. For a complete list of methods to onboard a REST service natively to the API Mediation Layer, see the Onboarding Overview.

The following procedure outlines the steps to onboard an API service through the API Gateway in the API Mediation Layer without requiring code changes.

Identify the APIs that you want to expose
Route your API
Define your service and API in YAML format
Configuration parameters
Add and validate the definition in the API Mediation Layer running on your machine
Add a definition in the API Mediation Layer in the Zowe runtime
(Optional) Check the log of the API Mediation Layer
(Optional) Reload the services definition after the update when the API Mediation Layer is already started

Tip: For more information about the structure of APIs and which APIs to expose in the Zowe API Mediation Layer, see the Onboarding Overview.

Identify the APIs that you want to expose#

The first step in API service onboarding is to identify the APIs that you want to expose.

Follow these steps:

Identify the following parameters of your API service:
- Hostname
- Port
- (Optional) base path where the service is available. This URL is called base URL of the service.
Example:
In the sample service described earlier, the URL of the service is: http://localhost:8080.
Identify all APIs that this service provides that you want to expose through the API Gateway.
Example:
In the sample service, this REST API is the one available at the path /v2 relative to base URL of the service. This API is version 2 of the Pet Store API.
Choose the service ID of your service. The service ID identifies the service in the API Gateway. The service ID is an alphanumeric string in lowercase ASCII.
Example:
In the sample service, the service ID is petstore.
Decide which URL to use to make this API available in the API Gateway. This URL is refered to as the gateway URL and is composed of the API type and the major version.
Example:
In the sample service, we provide a REST API. The first segment is /api. To indicate that this is version 2, the second segment is /v2.

2. Route your API#

After you identify the APIs you want to expose, define the routing of your API. Routing is the process of sending requests from the API gateway to a specific API service. Route your API by using the same format as in the following petstore example.

Note: The API Gateway differentiates major versions of an API.

Example:

To access version 2 of the petstore API use the following gateway URL:

https://gateway-host:port/api/v2/petstore

The base URL of the version 2 of the petstore API is:

http://localhost:8080/v2

The API Gateway routes REST API requests from the gateway URL https://gateway:port/api/v2/petstore to the service http://localhost:8080/v2. This method provides access to the service in the API Gateway through the gateway URL.

Note: This method enables you to access the service through a stable URL and move the service to another machine without changing the gateway URL. Accessing a service through the API Gateway also enables you to have multiple instances of the service running on different machines to achieve high-availability.

3. Define your service and API in YAML format#

Define your service and API in YAML format in the same way as presented in the following sample petstore service example.

Example:

To define your service in YAML format, provide the following definition in a YAML file as in the following sample petstore service:

services:
    - serviceId: petstore
      catalogUiTileId: static
      title: Petstore Sample Service
      description: This is a sample server Petstore service
      instanceBaseUrls:
        - http://localhost:8080
      routes:
        - gatewayUrl: api/v2
          serviceRelativeUrl: /v2
      apiInfo:
        - apiId: io.swagger.petstore
          gatewayUrl: api/v2
          swaggerUrl: http://localhost:8080/v2/swagger.json
          documentationUrl: https://petstore.swagger.io/
          version: 2.0.0

catalogUiTiles:
    static:
        title: Static API services
        description: Services which demonstrate how to make an API service discoverable in the APIML ecosystem using YAML definitions

In this example, a suitable name for the file is petstore.yml.

Notes:

The filename does not need to follow specific naming conventions but it requires the .yml extension.
The file can contain one or more services defined under the services: node.
Each service has a service ID. In this example, the service ID is petstore. The service can have one or more instances. In this case, only one instance http://localhost:8080 is used.
A service can provide multiple APIs that are routed by the API Gateway. In this case, requests with the relative base path api/v2 at the API Gateway (full gateway URL: https://gateway:port/api/v2/...) are routed to the relative base path /v2 at the full URL of the service (http://localhost:8080/v2/...).

Tips:

There are more examples of API definitions at this link.
For more details about how to use YAML format, see this link.

4. Customize configuration parameters#

The following list describes the configuration parameters:

serviceId
This parameter specifies the service instance identifier that is registered in the API Mediation Layer installation. The service ID is used in the URL for routing to the API service through the gateway. The service ID uniquely identifies the service in the API Mediation Layer. The system administrator at the customer site defines this parameter.
Important! Ensure that the service ID is set properly with the following considerations:
- When two API services use the same service ID, the API gateway considers the services to be clones (two instances for the same service). An incoming API request can be routed to either of them.
- The same service ID should be set only for multiple API service instances for API scalability.
- The service ID value must contain only lowercase alphanumeric characters.
- The service ID cannot contain more than 40 characters.
- The service ID is linked to security resources. Changes to the service ID require an update of security resources.
  Examples:
- If the customer system administrator sets the service ID to sysviewlpr1, the API URL in the API Gateway appears as the following URL:
  `https://gateway:port/api/v1/sysviewlpr1/...`
- If customer system administrator sets the service ID to vantageprod1, the API URL in the API Gateway appears as the following URL:
  `http://gateway:port/api/v1/vantageprod1/...`
title
This parameter specifies the human readable name of the API service instance (for example, "Endevor Prod" or "Sysview LPAR1"). This value is displayed in the API catalog when a specific API service instance is selected. This parameter is externalized and set by the customer system administrator.
Tip: We recommend that you provide a specific default value of the title. Use a title that describes the service instance so that the end user knows the specific purpose of the service instance.
description
This parameter specifies a short description of the API service.
Example: "CA Endevor SCM - Production Instance" or "CA SYSVIEW running on LPAR1".
This value is displayed in the API Catalog when a specific API service instance is selected. This parameter is externalized and set by the customer system administrator.
Tip: Describe the service so that the end user knows the function of the service.
instanceBaseUrls
This parameter specifies a list of base URLs to your service to the REST resource. It will be the prefix for the following URLs:
- homePageRelativeUrl
- statusPageRelativeUrl
- healthCheckRelativeUrl
  Examples:
- - http://host:port/filemasterplus for an HTTP service
- - https://host:port/endevor for an HTTPS service
  You can provide one URL if your service has one instance. If your service provides multiple instances for the high-availability then you can provide URLs to these instances.
- - https://host1:port1/endevor
- - https://host2:port2/endevor

homePageRelativeUrl
This parameter specifies the relative path to the homepage of your service. The path should start with /. If your service has no homepage, omit this parameter.
Examples:
- homePageRelativeUrl: / The service has homepage with URL ${baseUrl}/
- homePageRelativeUrl: /ui/ The service has homepage with URL ${baseUrl}/ui/
- homePageRelativeUrl: The service has homepage with URL ${baseUrl}
statusPageRelativeUrl
This parameter specifies the relative path to the status page of your service. Start this path with /. If you service has not a status page, omit this parameter.
Example:
- statusPageRelativeUrl: /application/info the result URL will be ${baseUrl}/application/info
healthCheckRelativeUrl
This parameter specifies the relative path to the health check endpoint of your service. Start this URL with /. If your service does not have a health check endpoint, omit this parameter.
Example:
- healthCheckRelativeUrl: /application/health. This results in the URL: ${baseUrl}/application/health
routes
The following parameters specify the routing rules between the gateway service and your service.
- routes.gatewayUrl
  Both gatewayUrl and serviceUrl parameters specify how the API service endpoints are mapped to the API gateway endpoints. The gatewayUrl parameter sets the target endpoint on the gateway.
- routes.serviceUrl
  Both gatewayUrl and serviceUrl parameters specify how the API service endpoints are mapped to the API gateway endpoints. The serviceUrl parameter points to the target endpoint on the gateway.
apiInfo
This section defines APIs that are provided by the service. Currently, only one API is supported.
apiInfo.apiId
This parameter specifies the API identifier that is registered in the API Mediation Layer installation. The API ID uniquely identifies the API in the API Mediation Layer. The same API can be provided by multiple services. The API ID can be used to locate the same APIs that are provided by different services.
The creator of the API defines this ID. The API ID needs to be a string of up to 64 characters that uses lowercase alphanumeric characters and a dot: ..
We recommend that you use your organization as the prefix.
Examples:
- org.zowe.file
- com.ca.sysview
- com.ibm.zosmf
apiInfo.gatewayUrl
This parameter specifies the base path at the API gateway where the API is available. Ensure that this path is the same as the gatewayUrl value in the routes sections.
apiInfo.swaggerUrl
(Optional) This parameter specifies the HTTP or HTTPS address where the Swagger JSON document is available.
apiInfo.documentationUrl
(Optional) This parameter specifies a URL to a website where external documentation is provided. This can be used when swaggerUrl is not provided.
apiInfo.version
(Optional) This parameter specifies the actual version of the API in semantic versioning format. This can be used when swaggerUrl is not provided.
catalogUiTileId
This parameter specifies the unique identifier for the API services group. This is the grouping value used by the API Mediation Layer to group multiple API services together into "tiles". Each unique identifier represents a single API Catalog UI dashboard tile. Specify the value based on the ID of the defined tile.
catalogUiTile
This section contains definitions of tiles. Each tile is defined in a section that has its tile ID as a key. A tile can be used by multiple services.
catalogUiTiles:
tile1:
title: Tile 1
description: This is the first tile with ID tile1
tile2:
title: Tile 2
description: This is the second tile with ID tile2
catalogUiTile.{tileId}.title
Specifies the title of the API services product family. This value is displayed in the API catalog UI dashboard as the tile title.
catalogUiTile.{tileId}.description
Specifies the detailed description of the API Catalog UI dashboard tile. This value is displayed in the API catalog UI dashboard as the tile description.

5. Add and validate the definition in the API Mediation Layer running on your machine#

After you define the service in YAML format, you are ready to add your service definition to the API Mediation Layer ecosystem.

The following procedure describes how to add your service to the API Mediation Layer on your local machine.

Follow these steps:

Copy or move your YAML file to the config/local/api-defs directory in the directory with API Mediation Layer.
Start the API Mediation Layer services.
Tip: For more information about how to run the API Mediation Layer locally, see Running the API Mediation Layer on Local Machine.
Run your Java application.
Tip: Wait for the services to be ready. This process may take a few minutes.
Go to the following URL to reach the API Gateway (port 10010) and see the paths that are routed by the API Gateway:
https://localhost:10010/application/routes
The following line should appear:
/api/v2/petstore/**: "petstore"
This line indicates that requests to relative gateway paths that start with /api/v2/petstore/ are routed to the service with the service ID petstore.
You successfully defined your Java application if your service is running and you can access the service endpoints. The following example is the service endpoint for the sample application:
https://localhost:10010/api/v2/petstore/pets/1

6. Add a definition in the API Mediation Layer in the Zowe runtime#

After you define and validate the service in YAML format, you are ready to add your service definition to the API Mediation Layer running as part of the Zowe runtime installation.

Follow these steps:

Locate the Zowe instance directory. The Zowe instance directory is chosen during Zowe configuration. The initial location of the directory is in the zowe-install.yaml file in the variable install:instanceDir.
Note: We use the ${zoweInstanceDir} symbol in following instructions.
Copy your YAML file to the ${zoweInstanceDir}/workspace/api-mediation/api-defs directory.
Note: The ${zoweInstanceDir}/workspace/api-mediation/api-defs directory is created the first time that Zowe starts, so if you have not started Zowe yet this directory might be missing.
Run your application.
Restart Zowe runtime or follow steps in section (Optional) Reload the services definition after the update when the API Mediation Layer is already started.
Go to the following URL to reach the API Gateway (default port 7554) and see the paths that are routed by the API Gateway:
https://${zoweHostname}:${gatewayHttpsPort}/application/routes
The following line should appear:
/api/v2/petstore/**: "petstore"
This line indicates that requests to the relative gateway paths that start with /api/v2/petstore/ are routed to the service with service ID petstore.
You successfully defined your Java application if your service is running and you can access its endpoints. The endpoint displayed for the sample application is: https://l${zoweHostname}:${gatewayHttpsPort}/api/v2/petstore/pets/1

7. (Optional) Check the log of the API Mediation Layer#

The API Mediation Layer prints the following messages to its log when the API definitions are processed:

Scanning directory with static services definition: config/local/api-defs
Static API definition file: /Users/plape03/workspace/api-layer/config/local/api-defs/petstore.yml
Adding static instance STATIC-localhost:petstore:8080 for service ID petstore mapped to URL http://localhost:8080

8. (Optional) Reload the services definition after the update when the API Mediation Layer is already started#

The following procedure enables you to refresh the API definitions after you change the definitions when the API Mediation Layer is already running.

Follow these steps:

Use a REST API client to issue a POST request to the Discovery Service (port 10011):
http://localhost:10011/discovery/api/v1/staticApi
The Discovery Service requires authentication by a client certificate. If the API Mediation Layer is running on your local machine, the certificate is stored at keystore/localhost/localhost.pem.
This example uses the HTTPie command-line HTTP client:
http --cert=keystore/localhost/localhost.pem --verify=keystore/local_ca/localca.cer -j POST https://localhost:10011/discovery/api/v1/staticApi
Check if your updated definition is effective.
Note: It can take up to 30 seconds for the API Gateway to pick up the new routing.