Server Automation REST API

The Server Automation REST API is a node-based application which enables you to execute and monitor Server Automation Plans. Using this REST API, you can perform Server Automation tasks in a standardized and operating system-independent method.

Note: An older version of this application based on IBM WAS Liberty profile is still available; however, new functionalities will be made available only on the Node-based application, and hence, the older version (fixlets 108 and 109 of SA REST API) will be phased out shortly.

The starting/stopping of this service is controlled by means of a Windows service called " SARESTService".

Note:

  • In fixlet (ID: 157), both http and https ports are configurable. Default http port is 8080 and https port is 8443. User needs to update the default http and https port before installation. If the computer already runs the legacy WAS Liberty based service, the user still can install the fixlet 157 on any available ports.

The application runs only on Windows computers.

How to install/uninstall the node-based Server Automation REST API

The Node-based REST API is installed/uninstalled by means of two tasks that can be found on the "Server Automation" site, namely: 
(ID: 157) Deploy Server Automation REST API
(ID: 158) Remove Server Automation REST API
The server logs can be found at: <INSTALL ROOT>\sa_rest_node\Logs.
Note: Server Automation Rest API documentation is also available in Swagger UI compatible format at https://localhost:8443/serverautomation/api-docs/.

Fore more information, refer to Server Automation REST API

Watchdog to check Server Automation REST service status

There can be instances where SA REST service is stopped due to various reasons (refer to SA REST service crash). To address this, you can install a watchdog service. The watchdog service checks if the SA REST service is running at regular intervals. If it detects that the SA REST service has stopped, it automatically restarts the SA REST service.
Note: To set the interval in minutes, click Take action, and in the Action Parameter, enter a number between 1 and 1439.

Installing the watchdog service is optional. You can add it to the automation plan as needed. You can install and uninstall the watchdog service using the following Fixlets from the Server Automation site: 

(ID: 151) Enable automatic restart for SAREST service
(ID: 154) Disable automatic restart for SAREST service
Important:
  • The prerequisite for the Fixlet (ID: 151) Enable automatic restart for SAREST service is to install the SA REST service using the Fixlet (ID: 157) Deploy Server Automation REST API.
  • If you want to remove SA REST service, you must first remove the watchdog using the Fixlet (ID: 154) Disable automatic restart for SAREST service before running the Fixlet (ID: 158) Remove Server Automation REST API,

Configuration of server side Ciphers

Cipher mechanism is used to encrypt or decrypt messages in SA REST APIs. If you do not want to use the default ciphers, you can configure your custom cipher in the config.js file by configuring it. To add your cipher in the config.js file in a Windows system, perform the following steps:
  1. Navigate to <INSTALL ROOT>\sa_rest_node\config.js, where SA REST API is installed.
  2. Open the config.js file in a text editor. Sample content in config.js file looks as follows:
            exports.httpsport  = "<some value>";
        exports.ip  = "<some value>";
        exports.bigFixServerUrl = "<some value>";
        exports.sslKeyPath = "<some value>";
        exports.sslCertPath = "<some value>";
        exports.ciphers = "";
  3. By default, the value of exports.ciphers is empty. You can add your ciphers within double quotes separated by commas.
    Note: Do not modify any other existing information apart from adding Cipher, which might lead to unexpected errors.
  4. Save and close the file.
  5. Restart the SARESTService for the changes to take effect.