Managing alternate content sources

You can accelerate content synchronization for your orcharhino Server and orcharhino Proxy Servers by creating alternate content sources. Use an alternate content source on your local filesystem or nearby network to download content faster while still receiving metadata from the upstream source.

An alternate content source (ACS) defines an alternate path to download content during synchronization. The content itself is downloaded from the ACS, while the metadata is downloaded from the orcharhino Server or the upstream URL, depending on the configuration. You can use ACS to accelerate synchronization if the content is located on the local filesystem or on a nearby network. You can set up ACS for orcharhino Server and orcharhino Proxy Servers.

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 by using the orcharhino management UI or Hammer CLI. Alternate content sources associated with your orcharhino Server, or orcharhino Proxy Servers attached to multiple organizations, affect all organizations.

There are two 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 Server to the upstream repository is faster than to your orcharhino Server.

Creating a custom alternate content source by using orcharhino management UI

You can create a custom alternate content source (ACS) to accelerate content synchronization by downloading from your local network or filesystem instead of remote upstream servers.

Prerequisites

  • If the repository requires SSL authentication, the SSL certificate and key must be imported into orcharhino.

  • You have the base URL and architectures, components, and releases of the Deb repository.

Procedure

  1. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Content > Alternate Content Sources.

  2. Click Add source.

  3. Set the Source type to Custom.

  4. Select the Content type from the drop-down list.

  5. In the Name field, enter a name for your custom ACS.

  6. Optional: In the Description field, provide a description for the ACS.

  7. Select orcharhino Proxies to which you want to synchronize content from your alternate content source.

  8. If you require synchronizing content through the HTTP proxy of your orcharhino Proxies, select Use HTTP proxies.

  9. In the Base URL field, enter the base URL of the alternate content source.

  10. In the Distributions field, provide a whitespace-separated list of distributions.

  11. Optional: In the Components field, provide a whitespace-separated list of components.

  12. Optional: In the Architectures field, provide a whitespace-separated list of architectures.

  13. If your alternate content source requires authentication, select the Manual authentication or Content credentials.

  14. If SSL verification is required, enable Verify SSL and select the SSL CA certificate.

  15. Click Add.

  16. Navigate to Content > Alternate Content Sources.

  17. Click the vertical ellipsis next to the newly created alternate content source and click Refresh.

Verification

  1. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Monitor > orcharhino Tasks > Tasks.

  2. Search for Refresh Alternate Content Source.

  3. Verify that the task finished successfully.

Creating a custom alternate content source by using Hammer CLI

You can create a custom alternate content source (ACS) to accelerate content synchronization by downloading from your local network or filesystem instead of remote upstream servers.

Prerequisites

  • If the repository requires SSL authentication, the SSL certificate and key must be imported into orcharhino.

  • You have the base URL and architectures, components, and releases of the Deb repository.

Procedure

  1. Create a custom alternate content source:

    $ hammer alternate-content-source create \
--alternate-content-source-type custom \
--base-url "https://local-repo.example.com:port" \
--deb-architectures "My_Deb_Architecture_1,My_Deb_Architecture_2" \
--deb-components "My_Deb_Component_1,My_Deb_Component_2" \
--deb-releases "My_Deb_Release_1,My_Deb_Release_2" \
--name "My_ACS_Name" \
--smart-proxy-ids My_orcharhino_Proxy_ID_1,My_orcharhino_Proxy_ID_2 \
--verify-ssl true

  2. Refresh your alternate content source:

    $ hammer alternate-content-source refresh --name "My_ACS_Name"
Verification

  • Verify that the task ran successfully:

    $ hammer task list --search "Refresh Alternate Content Source"

Creating a simplified alternate content source by using orcharhino management UI

You can create a simplified alternate content source (ACS) when your orcharhino Proxy Servers have faster connections to the upstream repository than to your orcharhino Server. This accelerates synchronization by downloading content directly from the upstream source.

Prerequisites

  • You have created the products that will use the alternate content source.

Procedure

  1. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Content > Alternate Content Sources.

  2. Click Add source.

  3. Set the Source type to Simplified.

  4. Select the Content type from the drop-down list.

  5. In the Name field, enter a name for your simplified ACS.

  6. Optional: In the Description field, provide a description for the ACS.

  7. Select orcharhino Proxies to which you want to synchronize content from your alternate content source.

  8. If you require synchronizing content through the HTTP proxy of your orcharhino Proxies, select Use HTTP proxies.

  9. Select the products that should use the alternate content source.

  10. Click Add.

  11. Navigate to Content > Alternate Content Sources.

  12. Click the vertical ellipsis next to the newly created alternate content source and click Refresh.

Verification

  1. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Monitor > orcharhino Tasks > Tasks.

  2. Search for Refresh Alternate Content Source.

  3. Verify that the task finished successfully.

Creating a simplified alternate content source by using Hammer CLI

You can create a simplified alternate content source (ACS) when your orcharhino Proxy Servers have faster connections to the upstream repository than to your orcharhino Server. This accelerates synchronization by downloading content directly from the upstream source.

Prerequisites

  • You have created the products that will use the alternate content source.

Procedure

  1. Create a simplified alternate content source:

    $ hammer alternate-content-source create \
--alternate-content-source-type simplified \
--content-type deb \
--deb-architectures "My_Deb_Architecture_1,My_Deb_Architecture_2" \
--deb-components "My_Deb_Component_1,My_Deb_Component_2" \
--deb-releases "My_Deb_Release_1,My_Deb_Release_2" \
--name "My_ACS_Name" \
--product-ids My_Product_ID_1,My_Product_ID_2 \
--smart-proxy-ids My_orcharhino_Proxy_ID_1,My_orcharhino_Proxy_ID_2

    Set the content type to file if you want to create a simplified ACS for a product with file-type repositories.

  2. Refresh your alternate content source:

    $ hammer alternate-content-source refresh --name "My_ACS_Name"
Verification

  • Verify that the task ran successfully:

    $ hammer task list --search "Refresh Alternate Content Source"

Permissions required to manage alternate content sources

User accounts must have a role that grants the following permissions to view and manage alternate content sources in orcharhino.

Permissions to view ACS

  • view_content_credentials

  • view_organizations

  • view_products

  • view_smart_proxies

Permissions to manage ACS

  • create_alternate_content_sources

  • destroy_alternate_content_sources

  • edit_alternate_content_sources

  • view_alternate_content_sources

The text and illustrations on this page are licensed by ATIX AG under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International ("CC BY-SA 4.0") license. This page also contains text from the official Foreman documentation which uses the same license ("CC BY-SA 4.0").