Install and configure Neo4j

Overview

Follow these instructions if you plan to install Neo4j on a different server than IPLM Server or if you prefer to install Neo4j directly rather than have IPLM do it

Install Neo4j using packages that are included in the package repositories provided by Neo4j

For full instructions on how to install Neo4j, see the Neo4J Installation Guide on the Neo4j website.

Considerations

  • IPLM currently uses Neo4j 4.4.44

Important:  The simplest way to install Neo4j is by allowing the IPLM Server installation package to download, install, and configure Neo4j itself. This is suitable for a test environment or a small installation. If you want to go down this route, then you can skip this section and proceed directly to Install IPLM Server. If you want more control over the installation of Neo4j, or are installing a cluster, then follow this set of instructions.

Step 1: Configure Neo4j repositories

To configure the Neo4j repositories, run the following commands:

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rpm --import https://debian.neo4j.com/neotechnology.gpg.key
cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/neo4j.repo << %EOF%
[neo4j]
name=Neo4j Yum Repo
baseurl=http://yum.neo4j.com/stable/4.4
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
%EOF%

Step 2: Install Neo4j

To install Neo4j, run the following command:

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sudo yum install neo4j-enterprise

When prompted to accept a license, accept the commercial license of Neo4j

This provides you with an installed version of Neo4j.

Check that the packages neo4j-enterprise and cypher-shell installed. These should be 4.4.X, where X is the currently available patch version for 4.4 (currently 44). Make a note of the exact installation version.

Step 3: Set Neo4j password

This section is optional if you installed and configured Neo4j as part of the iplm-server package. Navigate to Step 4.

Set the default password for Neo4j.

Run the following command if you haven't started Neo4j:

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neo4j-admin set-initial-password mysecurepassword 

Run the following command to change the password if you have already started Neo4j:

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cypher-shell -u neo4j -p neo4j

Important:  If cypher-shell isn't in your path, then you will need to prefix the command with the path to it. Cypher-shell is normally located in the Neo4j bin directory.

Step 4: Configure Neo4j networking

If IPLM Server and Neo4j aren't running on the same host, then configure Neo4j to listen on a network interface other than localhost.

  • If you have installed Neo4j through the Neo4j package, then the configuration file is in /etc/neo4j/neo4j.conf.

  • If you have installed Neo4j as part of the IPLM Server installation, then this file is in /usr/mdx/neo4j/current/conf/neo4j.conf.

Add the following to the end of the file:

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dbms.default_listen_address=0.0.0.0

This will enableconnections to the database from anywhere. If you want to limit connections from certain machines or subnets, then you need to consider firewall rules or more specifically tuned network addresses.

Step 5: Start Neo4j

To start the neo4j database, run the following command:

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sudo systemctl start neo4j

To enable Neo4j to automatically start on boot, run the following command:

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sudo systemctl enable neo4j

Next steps

Once you have completed the Neo4j installation, you can Install and configure IPLM Server.