Accessing the B2B REST APIs and documentation

To use 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.

Before you begin

See Installing B2B REST APIs.

About this task

To access the B2B REST APIs and documentation:

Procedure

  1. Install Sterling B2B Integrator. You must have Sterling B2B Integrator installed to access 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 the following command (even if you are running a non-clustered install): 
    startCluster.cmd 1 true
    This also enables startup of the Liberty API server.
    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.
    • The Partner Onboarding REST APIs require a clustered instance, but you can run a non-clustered instance in cluster mode. A true cluster is not required to use the REST APIs, unless you are implementing a high-availability scenario.
  4. Obtain the LIBERTY_HTTPS_PORT value 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
    • <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.
    Note: B2B REST APIs only support direct LDAP connection authentication. Authentication via SSO using the SSP and SEAS combination is not supported.
  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.