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.
RHUI: RHUI alternate content sources download content from a Red Hat Update Infrastructure server. orcharhino management UI provides examples to help you find the network paths and to import authentication credentials.

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

Synchronizing orcharhino Proxy directly from Red Hat CDN

You can use simplified alternate content sources to configure your orcharhino Proxy to sync content directly from Red Hat CDN.

Procedure

In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Content > Alternate Content Sources.
Click Add Source and set the Source type as Simplified.
Set the Content type to Yum.
In the Name field, enter a name for the alternate content source.
Optional: In the Description field, provide a description for the alternate content source.
Select orcharhino Proxies that you want to sync directly from Red Hat CDN.
Optional: Select Use HTTP proxies if you want the ACS to use the orcharhino Proxy’s HTTP proxy.
Select the Red Hat products that should be synced to the orcharhino Proxy from Red Hat CDN.
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.

The orcharhino Proxy will now download content from Red Hat CDN and not the orcharhino.

Configuring RHUI alternate content sources

Prerequisites

Generate the client entitlement certificates for the required repos on the RHUA node as described in Creating a client entitlement certificate with the Red Hat Update Infrastructure Management Tool in Configuring and Managing Red Hat Update Infrastructure.
Import the client entitlement certificates into orcharhino. For more information, see Importing Custom SSL Certificates in Managing Content.
Obtain a list of the subpaths for the required repositories. Execute the following command on your RHUA server:
```
# rhui-manager repo info --repo_id My_Repo_ID
```
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 RHUI.
Generate RHUI certificates using the command provided in the orcharhino management UI. Ensure that you pass the repo labels of the desired repositories.
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.
Enter the Base URL of the Red Hat Update Infrastructure CDS node.
Enter a comma-separated list of Subpaths.
Provide the Content 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, and select Refresh.

CLI procedure

On orcharhino Server, enter the following command:

# hammer alternate-content-source create \
--alternate-content-source-type rhui \
--base-url "https://rhui-cds-node/pulp/content" \
--name "My_ACS_Name" \
--smart-proxy-ids My_orcharhino_Proxy_ID \
--ssl-client-cert-id My_SSL_Client_Certificate_ID \
--ssl-client-key-id My_SSL_Client_Key_ID \
--subpaths path/to/repo/1/,path/to/repo/2/ \
--verify-ssl 1

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

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