Momus API

Description

This ASP.NET Core Web API allows one to store, edit and query a set of books and their reviews.

Data is saved to a LiteDb database, on file and provided via REST endpoints. Various statistics, pertaining to books, their reviews and the reading process are computed, provided sufficient entries are contributed.

Installation

The following steps describe how to deploy the APIs to a somewhat recent Linux machine (Ubuntu’s 18:04 in the author’s case).

1. Download and install Microsoft’s .NET Core packages

   wget -q https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/18.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb -O packages-microsoft-prod.deb

2. update packages list

   apt-get update

3. install https transport package

   sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https

4. install ASP.NET Core runtimes

   sudo apt-get install aspnetcore-runtime-3.1

   Note	ASP.NET Core runtimes are sufficient. There’s no need for the SDK unless one wants to build and publish the project from the server itself.

5. create folder where to store .NET published files

   mkdir /var/www/momus

6. build the project on the development machine, selecting the right target Linux x64

   dotnet publish --configuration Release

7. package, SCP or otherwise transfer the release files to /var/www/momus

8. assign proper permissions when required by the web server

   chown -R www-data /var/www/momus

9. create the file responsible for authentication settings, including the administrator’s password, and place it in the root folder

   authsettings.json

   {
     "Authentication": {
       "Secret": "choose a secret",
       "AdminPassword": "choose a password"
     }
   }

10. edit nginx configuration so it includes the following server block:

    /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

    server {
      listen        80;
      server_name   DOMAIN or IP ADDRESS;
      location / {
          proxy_pass         http://localhost:5000;
          proxy_http_version 1.1;
          proxy_set_header   Upgrade $http_upgrade;
          proxy_set_header   Connection keep-alive;
          proxy_set_header   Host $host;
          proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
          proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
          proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
      }
    }

11. create a service file to run the web API automatically

    sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/kestrel-momus.service

    kestrel-momus.service

    [Unit]
    Description=Momus
    
    [Service]
    WorkingDirectory=/var/www/momus
    ExecStart=/usr/bin/dotnet /var/www/momus/momus-api.dll
    Restart=always
    RestartSec=10
    KillSignal=SIGINT
    SyslogIdentifier=dotnet-example
    User=www-data
    Environment=ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Development
    Environment=DOTNET_PRINT_TELEMETRY_MESSAGE=false
    
    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target

12. Enable the service

    sudo systemctl enable kestrel-momus.service

13. Start the service

    sudo systemctl start kestrel-momus.service

14. Verify it’s actually running

    sudo systemctl status kestrel-momus.service

Updating

1. Publish the project through Visual Studio

2. Place the published files in /var/www/data and ensure permissions are set to www-data

3. Update the database to match data changes in the development environment, when necessary

4. Restart the service:

   sudo systemctl restart kestrel-momus.service