How to Configure nginx for WebAPI Authentication

If you need to set up authentication for REST API FineReader Server 14 and Document Conversion Service calls, use the nginx http-server and httpd.

Note. This article describes how to set up authentication for a machine that has the WebAPI component installed.

  1. Set up the FineReader Server 14 website as follows:
  • Open IIS Manager.
  • In the Connections pane, expand Sites and the name of your server and select FineReader Server 14.
  • In the Actions pane, select Bindings…
  • Change the http Port from 8080 to 8079.
  • Restart the website by clicking Restart in the Manage Website pane.
  1. Create a key file using htpasswd:
  • Download Apache from the official Apache website and unpack it to the root folder of drive C:\.
  • Save the key file to the root folder of drive C:\. To do so, run the following command:
    C:\Apache24\bin\htpasswd -c c:\ nginx\conf\pass user1,
    where user1 refers to the user and pass to the name of the key file.  
  • When running the command, you will need to enter the password for user1 twice.
  • To add a new user to an existing key file, run the following command:
    C:\Apache24\bin\htpasswd c:\ nginx\conf\pass user2
  • To verify that passwords have been created for all users, open the C:\pass file in Notepad:
    user1:$apr1$8J02UMct$ElvPUHOsnAfj3ez0RSUoc/
    user2:$apr1$zaBuoJjA$gZPUSmkxGI.DdSSdqLwqh1  
  1. Set up nginx:
  • Download nginx for Windows from the official nginx website and extract the installation package to the root folder of drive C:\.
  • In the nginx/conf folder, open the key file and make sure that it looks like the following:

   …
   http {
   …
       server {
           listen 8080;
           server_name localhost;
           location /FineReaderServer14{
               proxy_pass http://localhost:8079;
               auth_basic "Restricted Area";
               auth_basic_user_file c:/nginx/conf/pass;
           }
   …
   }

listen 8080 refers to the port that will be used by REST API FineReader Server 14 and the Document Conversion Service to send requests,

proxy_pass http://localhost:8079; is the port for the Document Conversion Service website,

and auth_basic_user_file c:/nginx/conf/pass is the path to the key file created using htpasswd.

  1. Launch nginx:
  • Run the following command:
    start C:\nginx-1.21.0\ nginx.exe
  • Verify that the process is running:
    tasklist /fi "imagename eq nginx.exe"
Image Name PID Session Name Session# Mem Usage
nginx.exe 3352 31C5CE94259D4006 2 6,960 K
nginx.exe 6432 31C5CE94259D4006 2 7,620 K

The above will set up basic authentication for nginxHostName:8080/FineReaderServer14 calls.

Note. If you need to set up authentication of a different type, see the nginx help documentation.

29.08.2023 11:55:30

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