Installing InterFormNG2 on Linux

Installing InterFormNG2 on Linux


The following instructions provide a recommended approach for setting up InterFormNG2 on Linux. This setup has been tested on Ubuntu v22 and is also compatible with other distributions like Red Hat Linux 8, provided the headless version is not used.


Run as a service with systemd (HTTPS version)

 

Install Java Runtime v17 (if not already installed) - not the headless variant.

On Ubuntu, install the Java Runtime using the following command:
sudo apt install openjdk-17-jre

For Optimal Security (Optional)
It is recommended, though not required, to create a dedicated user specifically for running InterFormNG. 
To create a new user, run the following commands:
sudo useradd -m ifng 
sudo passwd ifng

Enter the password when prompted:
sudo usermod -aG 
sudo ifng

Switch to the newly created user:
sudo -u ifng -s
cd ~ 

Alternatively, log in as an existing user.


Download the Application zip file:
Use the following command to download the application:
wget http://download.interform400.com/shares/SW/InterFormNG2_Linux.zip

 

Unzip the File to an Appropriate Folder (in this example, /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux is used):
sudo mkdir /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux
sudo chown ifng /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux/

unzip InterFormNG2_Linux.zip

-d /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux

 

Within the folder, move the keystore to the correct location:

 cd /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux
 mkdir keystore
 mv interformng2.p12 keystore/


Create a Folder for additional JAR files. If you require a database driver, it can be placed in this folder.
This folder serves as a replacement for the jre/lib/ext folder in Java 8.
mkdir /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux/libext

 

Edit the file /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux/application-default.properties and add this line:

interformng2.privateKey=<RANDOM-STRING>


Where <RANDOM-STRING> is indicated, enter your own randomly generated string with a minimum of 32 characters. This string will be used as an encryption key, so it’s important to choose a long, unique value for each installation.
Notes
Note: You can set this value as an environment variable instead of in application-default.properties. However, using a dot (.) in the variable name may lead to potential issues.
Make sure that only the user running the application has read access to the files
chmod -R 500 /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux/


Create a new file named /etc/systemd/system/iformng2.service with the following content (If you’re using a text editor, make sure to run it with sudo since this location requires root access):
[Unit]
Description=InterFormNG2
After=syslog.target

[Service]
User=ifng
Environment="INTERFORMNG2_HOME=/home/ifng/NG2Home"
WorkingDirectory=/opt/InterFormNG2_Linux
ExecStart=/bin/java -Xms512M -Xmx4096M \
  -Djava.locale.providers=COMPAT,CLDR \
  -Djava.io.tmpdir=/home/ifng/NG2Home/temp \
  -cp /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux/InterformNG2-3.5.0.jar:libext/* \
  org.springframework.boot.loader.JarLauncher
SuccessExitStatus=143

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target


Finally set it to start up automatically after a system restart, and then start the service:
sudo systemctl enable iformng2
sudo service iformng2 start

In case of startup problems, view the console log:
sudo journalctl --unit=iformng2


Additional consideration

It’s important to consider which users need access to the INTERFORMNG2_HOME directory, and set file permissions accordingly to ensure optimal security.
In the example provided, the ifng user's home directory is used for the InterFormNG home folder (/home/ifng/NG2Home). However, this may not be ideal if other users need access to the folder via the file system.

In the example, the maximum memory allocation for InterFormNG2 is set to 4GB using -Xmx4096M. This value can be adjusted as required.

The startup parameters include -Djava.locale.providers=COMPAT,CLDR. This setting ensures that date format strings generated by InterFormNG2, such as those from the ng:dateTimeFormat() XPath function, remain consistent with the format used in previous Java 8 versions. While this setting is recommended, it is optional.


Upgrading an existing installation

To upgrade the Linux installation to a newer version of InterFormNG2, without touching any configuration changes made to application-default.properties or keystores, follow this procedure (this assumes that the recommended installation procedure was previously followed): 

Log in as the user running the application (typically user ifng).

 

Download the latest version of InterFormNG2:

Use the following command to download the application:
wget http://download.interform400.com/shares/SW/InterFormNG2_Linux.zip


Unzip to a temporary folder:

unzip InterFormNG2_Linux.zip -d temp/


Stop the running service:
sudo service iformng2 stop


Make the installation folder writable:
chmod -R 700 /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux/ 


Delete old files (only these files, do not remove other files in the folder):
rm /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux/InterformNG2-x.y.z.jar

(replace x.y.z with the OLD InterFormNG2 version)

rm -r /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux/modules


Copy the new files from the temporary folder:
cp temp/InterformNG2-X.Y.Z.jar /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux/

(replace X.Y.Z with the NEW InterFormNG2 version)
cp -r temp/modules /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux/


Make the files read-only again:
chmod -R 500 /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux/

Edit the existing /etc/systemd/system/iformng2.service (with sudo) and change the version number on InterformNG2-x.y.z.jar to the new version number.

Start the service again:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo service iformng2 start

Setup of temporary work files on the Linux platform

On the Linux setup above you can change the recommended iformng2.service description above to include temp directory with the highlighted/bold text below:

ExecStart=/bin/java -Xms256M -Xmx4096M \
  -Djava.io.tmpdir=/home/ifng/NG2Home/temp \
  -jar /opt/InterFormNG2_Linux/InterformNG2-1.5.1.jar


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