Component inventory website running on asp.net core and using a Sqlite database.
PartFinder is written in C# and runs on IIS servers on the Windows platform or Linux or can be configured for docker.
This is a new release of the PartFinder component inventory manager I released four years ago in March 2020 which now runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.
PartFinder was written to keep track of the thousands of components we have in our workshop and make it easier to find parts for new projects.
Full details for this project and Linux setup instructions are on https://www.briandorey.com/post/partfinder-component-inventory-manager
To install and set up PartFinder, download the files from GitHub https://github.com/briandorey/PartFinderCore and extract them to a folder.
The PartFinderCore folder contains the project files.
The PartFinderCorePublish contains a compiled version of the project and can be run on Windows, Mac or Linux.
The wwwroot/docs folder and database file need read and write permissions.
The settings for the web URL, database and security are contained in the appsettings.json file at the root of the project. This file is composed of the following sections:
{
"Kestrel": {
"EndPoints": {
"Http": {
"Url": "http://localhost:80"
}
}
},
"Logging": {
"LogLevel": {
"Default": "Information",
"Microsoft.AspNetCore": "Warning"
}
},
"AllowedHosts": "*",
"SiteData": {
"RequireLogin": false,
"DataBasePath": "../PFData.db"
}
}
The Kestrel section contains the Url which the application will run on.
The SiteData section contains:
RequireLogin – This is a Boolean and if set to true the website will require a login to access PartFinder.
DataBasePath – This contains the path for the SQLite database file.
For Linux hosting an alternative linuxsslappsettings.json file is included which includes extra settings to use a local signed certificate to use SSL.
To run the published app locally, run the following command from the publish folder.
dotnet PartFinderCore.dll
You can now open your web browser and go to http://localhost:80 or the address from the appsettings to access PartFinder.
Before you can run PartFinder on Linux you will need to install the aspnetcore runtime.
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y aspnetcore-runtime-8.0
To run the published app locally, run the following command from the publish folder.
sudo dotnet PartFinderCore.dll
You can now open your web browser and go to http://localhost:80 or the address from the appsettings to access PartFinder.
To run PartFinder on Linux as a service you will want to use Apache or Nginx as a proxy server. Many linux distros including Ubuntu do not allow applications to access ports below 1024 without root privilages and as it is not a good idea to run the website as root you will need to run the website on a port higher than 1024 and use Apache as a proxy between the dotnet website and port 80 or 443.
The following instructions will allow you to install and run PartFinder on Linux as a service using a self-signed certificate to allow SSL access.
First install Apache
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install apache2
Copy PartFinderCorePublish to the folder where you want to install PartFinder, for example:
/var/www/PartFinderCorePublish
Navigate to the folder.
cd /var/www/PartFinderCorePublish
To create a self-signed certificate first generate a private key.
openssl genpkey -algorithm RSA -out certificate.key
Generate a self-signed certificate
openssl req -new -x509 -key certificate.key -out certificate.crt -days 365
Convert the certificate and key to a PFX file.
openssl pkcs12 -export -out certificate.pfx -inkey certificate.key -in certificate.crt
Set permissions to read write and execute for the PartFinderCorePublish folder.
sudo chmod 755 /var/www/PartFinderCorePublish
If the database is in a different folder you will also need to set the same permissions for that folder.
Set the owner of the website. This user should exist on the server.
sudo chown -Rv www-data /var/www/PartFinderCorePublish
Update the PartFinderCorePublish/appsettings.json file to set the name of the certificate you just created and set the folder where you want to store the database.
To run PartFinder when Linux starts you can create a service that will start Part Finder automatically.
Create a config file for PartFinder using your preferred text editor.
/etc/apache2/sites-available/partfinder.conf
Insert the following:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName partfinder.mydomain.com
ProxyRequests off
ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:6002/
ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:6002/
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/partfinder_error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/partfinder_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName partfinder.mydomain.com
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /var/www/PartFinderCorePublish/certificate.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /var/www/PartFinderCorePublish/certificate.key
SSLProxyEngine On
ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyRequests off
ProxyPass / https://127.0.0.1:6003/
ProxyPassReverse / https://127.0.0.1:6003/
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/partfinder_error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/partfinder_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Enable the configuration.
sudo a2ensite partfinder.conf
Enable Required Modules.
Ensure that the mod_ssl and mod_proxy modules are enabled:
sudo a2enmod ssl
sudo a2enmod proxy
sudo a2enmod proxy_http
sudo a2enmod proxy_https
Restart Apache.
After making these changes, restart Apache to apply the new configuration:
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Create a systemd service file for PartFinder.
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/partfinder.service
Paste in the following, change the WorkingDirectory, ExecStart and User to match your setup.
[Unit]
Description=ASP.NET Core PartFinder
[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/PartFinderCorePublish
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dotnet /var/www/PartFinderCorePublish/PartFinderCore.dll
Restart=always
# Restart service after 10 seconds if the dotnet service crashes:
RestartSec=10
KillSignal=SIGINT
SyslogIdentifier=dotnet-web-api
# This user should exist on the server and have ownership of the deployment directory and the database directory
User=www-data
Environment=ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
To Start PartFinder run:
sudo systemctl enable partfinder.service
sudo systemctl start partfinder.service
sudo systemctl status partfinder.service
You should now be able to access the website on https://localhost
When you first access PartFinder using your web browser you will be prompted to create a user account if you have enabled RequireLogin in the appconfig.json file.
If the database does not exist it will automatically be created and populated with default values for Footprint Categories, Footprints, Manufacturers and Part Categories. These values are set in the Classes/DataBaseInit.cs file.
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