Installing IBM API Connect

IBM® API Connect can be installed by using VMware, or Citrix XenServer.

Before you begin

Note: These installation instructions are for installing IBM API Connect servers on-premises. If you want to install the IBM API Connect developer toolkit to develop APIs and LoopBack applications, see Installing the toolkit.

Ensure that you have the minimum hardware and software requirements installed. For more information, see IBM API Connect Version 5.0 requirements.
Decide how many different servers you want to install. For more information, see Planning your cloud.
Each server that you configure in IBM API Connect must already be defined in your network and must have a separate IP address.
Depending on the combination of physical and virtual appliances you are using, ensure that all API Connect management appliances in your on-premises installation are initialized and that all gateway (DataPower®) servers are running. Check that all of the servers are powered on and active in the network. Then, log in to the API Connect console to connect to these servers and define an API Connect provider organization.

About this task

The required steps of installing your server depend on the type of server that you are installing.

At a minimum, you must initialize API Connect on two specific server types. Then, by using the API Connect cloud console, you must add one of each of the following API Connect server types:

Management (the first Management server is added automatically)
Gateway
Developer Portal

Important: Configure Network Time Protocol (NTP) on every Management, Gateway, and Developer Portal server to ensure that there is a consistent time view. Any differences in the clocks across all of the servers can cause problems.

For virtual servers, each server type requires a separate OVA file, which are created during the installation process. Therefore, to install API Connect requires two different OVA files:

For the Management server, product_version-APIConnect-ManagementAppliance-date_time_unique_id.ova
For the Gateway server, refer to the supplied product details

Note: When you obtain an interim fix from the IBM Fix Central support site, the stem of the file name also includes the build identifier.

Depending on the software that you are using to install API Connect within your enterprise, select the relevant installation topics.

Restriction: An API Connect management appliance accepts only Secure Shell (SSH) connections using secure ciphers. Insecure algorithms such as SHA1 and MD5 are not accepted. If a tool that uses insecure ciphers is used to connect to an API Connect management appliance, the appliance refuses the connections and the Server unexpectedly closed network connection message is displayed.

Procedure

For each server, select a platform (physical appliance or VMware, or Citrix XenServer) and follow the installation instructions from the topics that are provided at the end of this topic.
For each server, configure the network to use either Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or static addressing:
- Configuring to use DHCP addressing
- Configuring to use static addressing
Important: Using DHCP addressing on a Gateway server (DataPower appliance) is incompatible with using Gateway cluster load balancing.
After API Connect is deployed and configured, the user interfaces are accessed by using the following URL formats:
- Cloud console:
```
https://<management_hostname_or_proxy>.<domain>/cmc
```
- API Manager:
```
https://<management_hostname_or_proxy>.<domain>/apim
```
- Within an organization, for a specific Catalog Developer Portal, you can configure the following example URL format:
```
https://<management_hostname_or_proxy>.<domain>/<organization_name>/<catalog_name>
```
Within an organization, API traffic for a specific Catalog:
- If you are using Dynamic DNS:
```
https://<CatalogName>.<OrganizationName>.<GatewayHostname or ExternalLoadBalancerIPaddress>.<domain>
```
- If you are not using Dynamic DNS:
```
https://<GatewayHostname or ExternalLoadBalancerIPaddress>.<domain>/<OrganizationName>/<CatalogName>
```
Note: Dynamic DNS is an option that you can specify when you configure your API Connect on-premises cloud by using the Cloud Console. For more information, see Selecting the DNS scheme.

What to do next

To learn how to install and use the Developer Portal, see Deploying the Developer Portal OVA file, Installing the Developer Portal, and Developer Portal: discover and use APIs.