How to Install Kong Enterprise on CentOS

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Prerequisites
• Step 1. Download Kong Enterprise
• Step 2. Install Kong Enterprise
• Step 3. Setup PostgreSQL
• Step 4. Create a Kong database and user
• Step 5. Modify Kong’s configuration file
• Step 6. Seed the Super Admin (optional)
• Step 7. Start Kong
• Troubleshooting
• Next Steps

Introduction

This guide walks through downloading, installing, and starting Kong Enterprise using CentOS and PostgreSQL 9.5. The configuration shown in this guide is intended only as an example – you will want to modify and take additional measures to secure your Kong Enterprise system before moving to a production environment.

Prerequisites

To complete this guide you will need:

• A CentOS 6 or 7 system with root equivalent access.
• The ability to SSH to the system.

Step 1. Download Kong Enterprise

1. Option 1. Download via Packages

   Log in to Bintray to download the latest Kong Enterprise RPM for CentOS. Your Sales or Support contact will email this credential to you.

   Copy the file to your home directory:

    $ scp kong-enterprise-edition-0.35-1.el7.noarch.rpm <centos user>@<serverip:~
   

2. Option 2. Download via YUM

   Edit the baseurl field in the yum repository file /etc/yum.repos.d :

    baseurl=https://<USERNAME>:<API_KEY>@kong.bintray.com/kong-enterprise-edition-rpm/centos/$releasever
   

   Replace <USERNAME> with your Bintray account information

   Set $releasever to the correct CentOS version (e.g. 6 or 7)

3. Obtain your Kong Enterprise license

   If you do not already have your license file, you can download it from your account files in Bintray https://bintray.com/kong/<YOUR_REPO_NAME>/license#files

   Ensure your license file is in proper JSON:

    {"license":{"signature":"91e6dd9716d12ffsn4a5ckkb16a556dbebdbc4d0a66d9b2c53f8c8d717eb93dd2bdbe2cb3ef51c20806f14345128907da35","payload":{"customer":"Kong Inc","license_creation_date":"2019-05-07","product_subscription":"Kong Enterprise Edition","admin_seats":"5","support_plan":"None","license_expiration_date":"2021-04-01","license_key":"00Q1K00000zuUAwUAM_a1V1K000005kRhuUAE"},"version":1}}
   

4. Securely copy the license file to the CentOS system

    $ scp license.json <centos username>@<serverip>:~
   

Step 2. Install Kong Enterprise

1. Install Kong Enterprise

    $ sudo yum install kong-enterprise-edition-0.35-1.el7.noarch.rpm
   

   Note: Your version may be different based on when you obtained the rpm

2. Copy the license file to the /etc/kong directory

    $ sudo cp kong-se-license.json /etc/kong/license.json
   

   Kong will look for a valid license in this location.

Step 3. Setup PostgreSQL

1. Install PostgreSQL

    $ sudo yum install https://download.postgresql.org/pub/repos/yum/reporpms/EL-7-x86_64/pgdg-redhat-repo-latest.noarch.rpm
   
    $ sudo yum install postgresql95 postgresql95-server
   

2. Initialize the PostgreSQL Database

    $ sudo /usr/pgsql-9.5/bin/postgresql95-setup initdb
   

3. Start PostgreSQL and Enable Automatic Start

    $ sudo systemctl enable postgresql-9.5
    $ sudo systemctl start postgresql-9.5
   

Step 4. Create a Kong database and user

1. Switch to PostgreSQL user

    $ sudo -i -u postgres
   

2. Launch PostgreSQL

    $ psql
   

3. Run the following command to:

   – Create a Kong user and database

   – Make Kong the owner of the database

   – Set the password of the Kong user to ‘kong’

    $ CREATE USER kong; CREATE DATABASE kong OWNER kong; ALTER USER kong WITH password 'kong';
   

   ⚠️Note: Make sure the username and password for the Kong Database are kept safe. We have used a simple example for illustration purposes only.

4. Exit from PostgreSQL

    $ \q
   

5. Return to terminal

    $ exit
   

6. Run the following command to access the PostgreSQL configuration file.

    $ sudo vi /var/lib/pgsql/9.5/data/pg_hba.conf
   

7. Under IPv4 local connections replace ident with md5

   TYPE	DATABASE	USER	ADDRESS	METHOD
   # IPv4 local connections:
   host	all	all	127.0.0.1/32	md5
   # IPv6 local connections:
   host	all	all	::1/128	ident

8. Restart PostgreSQL

    $ sudo systemctl restart postgresql-9.5
   

Step 5. Modify Kong’s configuration file

To use the newly provisioned PostgreSQL database, Kong’s configuration file must be modified to accept the correct PostgreSQL user and password.

1. Make a copy of the default configuration file

    $ cp /etc/kong/kong.conf.default /etc/kong/kong.conf
   

2. Uncomment and update the PostgreSQL database properties inside the Kong conf:

    $ sudo vi etc/kong/kong.conf
   

    pg_user = kong
    pg_password = kong
    pg_database = kong
   

Step 6. Seed the Super Admin (optional)

For the added security of Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), it is best to seed the Super Admin before initial start-up.

Create an environment variable with the desired Super Admin password:

$ export KONG_PASSWORD=<password-only-you-know>

This will be used during migrations to seed the initial Super Admin password within Kong.

Step 7. Start Kong

1. Run migrations to prepare the Kong database

    $ kong migrations bootstrap -c /etc/kong/kong.conf
   

2. Start Kong

    $ sudo /usr/local/bin/kong start -c /etc/kong/kong.conf
   

3. Verify Kong is working

    curl -i -X GET --url http://localhost:8001/services
   

   You should receive an HTTP/1.1 200 OK message.

Troubleshooting

If you did not receive an HTTP/1.1 200 OK message, or need assistance completing setup reach out to your Support contact or head over to the Support Portal.

Next Steps

Work through Kong Enterprise’s series of Getting Started guides to get the most out of Kong Enterprise.