Configure Container API

Learn how to configure the pdfRest Container API to meet your needs.

Environment variables

The pdfRest Container API is highly configurable using environment variables. These control a variety of features, such as maximum file upload size or CPU concurrency. The list of environment variables and their functions are below:

REMOVE_ORIGINAL_PROCESSEDinteger
Controls whether uploaded and processed documents are deleted from the system. Set to 1 for true or 2 for false. Defaults to 1 for true.
REMOVE_ORIGINAL_PROCESSED_DELAYinteger
Controls how long before those documents are deleted from the system in milliseconds. Requires REMOVE_ORIGINAL_PROCESSED to be 1. Defaults to 1800000 (30 minutes).
MAX_PROCESS_TIMEintiger
Controls how long a single document will process before timing out in seconds. Defaults to 1800 (30 minutes)
MAX_UPLOAD_SIZEintiger
Controls the maxiumum uploaded file size in MB. Defaults to 1000.
INPUT_KEYstring
A value appended to all input file id UUIDs to visually and programatically identify them. Defaults to 1.
OUTPUT_KEYstring
A value appended to all output file id UUIDs to visually and programatically identify them. Defaults to 2.
REDIRECT_ROOT_URLstring
Controls the url that users will be redirected to if they try to manually navigate to the server domain. Defaults to https://pdfrest.com.
PDFREST_SERVER_DOMAINboolean
Controls which domain the pdfRest API will tell users to retrieve their files from after processing. Must be set to the scheme and host of the actual server
PDFREST_MAX_CLU_CONCURRENCYinteger
Sets the maximum number of concurrent processing requests that can run; any additional requests will enter the local queue. This prevents performance issues during batches of simultaneous requests. The default is the number of CPU cores minus 1, with a minimum of 1.

ex. An instance with 4 CPU cores would default to PDFREST_MAX_CLU_CONCURRENCY = 3

Setting variables in Docker

In docker these variables can be set under:

services > **pdfrest_service** > env

services:
  pdfrest-toolkit:
    platform: linux/amd64
    image: <image_name>
    restart: always
    environment:
      - PDFREST_SERVER_DOMAIN=https://api.pdfrest.com
      - MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE=1000

Setting variables in Kubernetes

In Kubernetes they can be set under:

spec > template > spec > containers > **pdfrest_container** > env

spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: pdfrest
          image: <image_name>
          env:
            - name: PDFREST_SERVER_DOMAIN
              value: https://api.pdfrest.com
            - name: REMOVE_ORIGINAL_PROCESSED
              value: false

Installing msCoreFonts

Microsoft Core Fonts are not licensed to be distributed with pdfRest API products but they are freely available from SourceForge for you to install. These are optional when deploying the pdfRest API and enable the following features:

  • Support maximum file size reduction with Compress PDF by enabling font subsetting
    • Subsetting the fonts that are embedded in the document is an important step to reduce PDF file size. The subset of the font contains only those font characters actually used in the PDF document.
  • Support font embedding, a required step to Convert to PDF/A
    • Embedding fonts in your output PDF document ensures that the document can be opened and viewed on any machine, because the fonts travel with that document. Quite literally, the necessary font files are saved within that PDF file. This is required for all PDF/A specifications to support long-term preservation.
  • Expand the set of supported fonts that may be used with Watermark PDF.
    • Once installed, msCoreFonts are available for use with the Watermark PDF API Tool, expanding the set of fonts that can be applied with a text-based watermark.

These commands should be programmed to run on server start, or configured as a new layer on top of the existing one.

dnf install -y curl cabextract xorg-x11-font-utils fontconfig \
&& rpm -i https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/mscorefonts2/rpms/msttcore-fonts-installer-2.6-1.noarch.rpm
Deploy Container API
Everything you need to know to deploy the pdfRest Container API with your Docker framework.
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