Adding a REST server

Add a server and configure the properties that your external service uses to invoke a REST API. Server configurations can be shared by multiple external services in a process app or toolkit.

About this task

External services must provide connection information and authentication information to invoke a service on the host. The connection information, as well as defaults for basic authentication information, are defined in a server. The external service points to the server. Multiple external services can point to the same server. A server lets you maintain the connection information in one place so that you need to update it only once if something changes. If the API changes but the server is the same, you can rediscover the service without changing the server.

You can choose to create a server when you discover a REST service. The host, port and secure server properties are added for you if the Swagger definition specifies them. You can also add a server in the Process App Settings editor. To add a REST server, follow these steps.

Procedure

  1. Select the Servers tab from the Process App Settings editor. You see the Process App Settings editor when you first click Open in Designer from a newly created process application in the Workflow Center. Alternatively you can select Process App Settings from the drop-down list on the toolbar in Process Designer.
  2. In the Servers section, click +. In the Details section, enter a meaningful name for the server binding. In the Type field, select REST Server. Enter a meaningful description of the server binding in the Description field. This field is optional.
  3. Enter the server binding properties for the Default environment.
    • The Default settings are used if nothing is specified for the other environments. You can have several environment types, which are added by clicking +. The other environment types that you can add are as follows:
      • Development: The environment where you develop your services.
      • Test: The environment where you test your services.
      • Staging: The environment where you deploy your services for pre-production testing.
      • Production: The environment where your services are deployed for use by your organization.
      You can modify the environment type after deployment by using the updateBPMConfig administrative command. See Modifying the IBM Workflow Server environment type.
    • Host name: The host name of the server that hosts the REST service. Specify an IP address or a host name and domain. For example: myHost.labwide.ibm.com.
    • Port: The port number of the server.
    • Secure Server: Specify whether you want your service to be secure, that is, to use the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) protocol by selecting this check box. If you select the HTTPS protocol, make sure that you have the security certificate that the REST service requires and that you specify the correct port number for the secure server.
    • SSL Configuration: Check the server certificate for the REST service that you want to invoke.
      • If the server certificate is signed by a public certification authority, you can use the preconfigured SSL configuration that is named PublicInternetSSLSettings.
      • If the server certificate is not signed by one of the public certification authorities that are included in the preconfigured SSL configuration, an administrator should create a new SSL configuration for this service and import the server certificate into a new trust store. For information about administering SSL configurations, see Creating a Secure Sockets Layer configuration and Retrieving signers from a remote SSL port.
    • Authentication: The defaults for the basic authentication method that is used to invoke the REST service. These settings take effect when no basic authentication settings are configured in the Binding tab of the external service. You can use one of the following options:
      None
      No credentials are required.
      Basic - user name and password
      Authenticate by using the user name and password that are specified.
      Basic - invocation credential
      Authenticate by using the J2C authentication alias that holds the username and password. The alias is defined by the administrator in the WebSphere administrative console security settings. See Managing Java 2 Connector Architecture authentication .
    • Request and Response Timeout: The amount of time before a connection to the server times out.
      Request timeout
      The amount of time, in milliseconds, that the client attempts to establish a connection before it times out. The default is 30000. If you choose None, the client attempts to open a connection indefinitely.
      Response timeout
      The amount of time, in milliseconds, that the client waits for a response before it times out. The default is 60000. If you choose None, the client waits indefinitely.
  4. Click Save or Finish Editing.