Accessing the B2B REST APIs and documentation

To use the B2B Rest APIs, you must have a valid license for and have installed Sterling B2B Integrator. Once you download and install the APIs, you must configure your system to use them.

See "Installing the B2B REST APIs."

To access the B2B REST APIs and documentation:

  1. Install Sterling File Gateway V2.2.6.1 or later. You must have Sterling File Gateway installed to access the B2B REST APIs.
  2. Create a new system user account in Sterling B2B Integrator (or use an existing account) and give it APIUser permissions.
    CAUTION:
    The APIUser permission is equivalent to admin and includes the permissions to create, delete, update and read all system configurations within a supported API.
  3. Run startCluster.cmd (or startCluster.sh for Unix/Linux) command with the database update value set to true startCluster.cmd 1 true or startCluster.cmd 1 when you configure Sterling B2B Integrator cluster for the first time.
    On node 1, dbupdate defaults to true.
    Run startCluster.cmd (or .sh) even if you are running a non-clustered installation. This also enables startup of the Liberty API server..
    Note:
    • You must use the above option only when you are setting up the cluster first time or during the initial install, which makes all cluster-related configurations to take effect.
    • The database update synchronizes the scheduled jobs between the nodes by assigning them all to node 1.
    • The startCluster.cmd nodeNumber command on node 1 automatically updates the database, unless you use the command startCluster.cmd 1 false.
    • The startCluster.cmd nodeNumber command on all other nodes does not update the database.
    • The startCluster.cmd command with the database update value turned off (startCluster.cmd 1 false) prevents any configuration changes from affecting the system, especially after you install a fix pack or an interim fix.
  4. Get the LIBERTY_HTTPS_PORT number from sandbox.cfg. This is typically the base port + 75.
  5. Go to <Host_Name>:<port>/B2BAPIs/svc/doc, where <Host_Name> is the server address where Sterling B2B Integrator is installed, and <port> is the Liberty server port number. This is a unique IP/Port for each node. Typically, a deployment consists of many nodes that share a common port for all nodes. If you are creating a vertical cluster, every node could have a unique port.
  6. (Optional) To make the REST API HA-ready, configure a REST API DNS/VIP address for the B2Bi REST API service and configure your load balancer to spray across the physical IP address and port for each of your Sterling B2B Integrator nodes. The load balancer hosts the received DNS/VIP and routes the requests to the configured destinations:<Host_Name1>:<port1>/B2BAPIs/svc/doc<Host_Name2>:<port2>/B2BAPIs/svc/doc<Host_Name3>:<port3>/B2BAPIs/svc/doc
  7. Log in to Sterling B2B Integrator as the system user with APIUser permissions. The Web Service Browser: API Reference is displayed.
    Important: Ensure that the Liberty API server is started successfully before attempting to access the B2B REST APIs. If the Liberty API server is not started, you will get a Context Root Not Found error.