Managing alternate content sources

Alternate content sources define alternate paths to download content during synchronization. The content itself is downloaded from the alternate content source, while the metadata is downloaded from the orcharhino Server or the upstream URL, depending on the configuration. You can use alternate content source to speed up synchronization if the content is located on the local filesystem or on a nearby network. You can set up alternate content sources for orcharhino Server and orcharhino Proxy. You must refresh the alternate content source after creation or after making any changes. A weekly cron job refreshes all alternate content sources. You can also refresh the alternate content sources manually using the orcharhino management UI or the Hammer CLI. Alternate content sources associated with your orcharhino Server, or orcharhino Proxies attached to multiple organizations, affect all organizations.

There are three types of alternate content sources:

Custom: Custom alternate content sources download the content from any upstream repository on the network or filesystem.
Simplified: Simplified alternate content sources copy the upstream repository information from your orcharhino Server for the selected products. Simplified alternate content sources are ideal for situations where the connection from your orcharhino Proxy to the upstream repo is faster than from your orcharhino Server.

Permission requirements for alternate content sources

Non-administrator users must have the below permissions to manage alternate content sources:

view_smart_proxies
view_content_credentials
view_organizations
view_products

In addition to the above permissions, assign permissions specific to alternate content sources, depending on the actions the users can perform:

view_alternate_content_sources
create_alternate_content_sources
edit_alternate_content_sources
destroy_alternate_content_sources

Alternate Content Sources (ACS) is a technical preview. ATIX AG does not recommend using this in your production environment.

Configuring custom alternate content sources

Prerequisites

If the repository requires SSL authentication, import the SSL certificate and key to the orcharhino. For more information, see Importing Custom SSL Certificates in Managing Content.
Note that the alternate content source paths consist of a base URL appended with the subpaths that you provide. For example, if your base URL is https://server.example.com and your subpaths are rhel7/ and rhel8/, then both https://server.example.com/rhel7/ and https://server.example.com/rhel8/ will be searched.

Procedure

In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Content > Alternate Content Sources.
Click Add Source and set the Source type as Custom.
Select the Content type.
In the Name field, enter a name for the alternate content source.
Optional: In the the Description field, provide a description for the ACS.
Select orcharhino Proxies to which the alternate content source is to be synced.
Enter the Base URL of the alternate content source.
Enter a comma-separated list of Subpaths.
Provide the Manual Authentication or Content Authentication credentials, if these are needed.
If SSL verification is required, enable Verify SSL and select the SSL CA certificate.
Review details and click Add.
Navigate to Content > Alternate Content Sources > click the vertical ellipsis next to the newly created alternate content source > Select Refresh.

CLI procedure

On orcharhino Server, enter the following command:

$ hammer alternate-content-source create \
--alternate-content-source-type custom \
--base-url "https://local-repo.example.com:port" \
--name "My_ACS_Name" \
--smart-proxy-ids My_orcharhino_Proxy_ID

Check if the newly created alternate content source is listed:
```
$ hammer alternate-content-source list
```

Refresh the alternate content source:

$ hammer alternate-content-source refresh --id My_Alternate_Content_Source_ID

Add the orcharhino Proxies to which the alternate content source is to be synced:

$ hammer alternate-content-source update \
--id My_Alternate_Content_Source_ID \
--smart-proxy-ids My_orcharhino_Proxy_ID

Refresh the alternate content sources:

$ hammer alternate-content-source refresh --id My_Alternate_Content_Source_ID

Configuring simplified alternate content sources

Procedure

In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Content > Alternate Content Sources.
Click Add Source and set the Source type as Simplified.
Select the Content type.
In the Name field, enter a name for the alternate content source.
Optional: In the Description field, provide a description for the ACS.
Select orcharhino Proxies to which the alternate content source is to be synced.
Optional: Select Use HTTP proxies if you want the ACS to use the orcharhino Proxy’s HTTP proxy.
Select the products that should use the alternate content source.
Review details and click Add.
Navigate to Content > Alternate Content Sources, click the vertical ellipsis next to the newly created alternate content source, and select Refresh.

CLI procedure

Create a simplified ACS:

$ hammer alternate-content-source create \
--alternate-content-source-type simplified \
--name My_ACS_Name \
--product-ids My_Product_ID \
--smart-proxy-ids My_orcharhino_Proxy_ID

Check if the newly created ACS is listed:
```
$ hammer alternate-content-source list
```

Refresh the ACS:

$ hammer alternate-content-source refresh --id My_ACS_ID

The text and illustrations on this page are licensed by ATIX AG under a Creative Commons Attribution–Share Alike 3.0 Unported ("CC-BY-SA") license. This page also contains text from the official Foreman documentation which uses the same license ("CC-BY-SA").