Managing file type content

In orcharhino, you might require methods of managing and distributing SSH keys and source code files or larger files such as virtual machine images and ISO files. To achieve this, products in orcharhino include repositories for file types. This provides a generic method to incorporate arbitrary files in a product.

You can upload files to the repository and synchronize files from an upstream orcharhino Server. When you add files to a file type repository, you can use the normal orcharhino management functions such as adding a specific version to a content view to provide version control and making the repository of files available on various orcharhino Proxy Servers. You must download the files on clients over HTTP or HTTPS by using curl -O.

You can create a file type repository in orcharhino Server only in a product, but there is flexibility in how you create the repository source. You can create an independent repository source in a directory on orcharhino Server, or on a remote HTTP server, and then synchronize the contents of that directory into orcharhino. This method is useful when you have multiple files to add to a orcharhino repository.

Creating a local source for a file type repository

You can create a file type repository source, from a directory of files, on the base system where orcharhino is installed using Pulp Manifest. You can then synchronize the files into a repository and manage the file type content like any other content type.

Use this procedure to configure a repository in a directory on the base system where orcharhino is installed.

Procedure

Install the Pulp Manifest package:
```
$ dnf install pulp-manifest
```
Create a directory that you want to use as the file type repository, such as:
```
$ mkdir -p /var/lib/pulp/local_repos/my_file_repo
```

Add the parent folder into allowed import paths:

$ orcharhino-installer --foreman-proxy-content-pulpcore-additional-import-paths /var/lib/pulp/local_repos

Add files to the directory or create a test file:

$ touch /var/lib/pulp/local_repos/my_file_repo/test.txt

Run the Pulp Manifest command to create the manifest:

$ pulp-manifest /var/lib/pulp/local_repos/my_file_repo

Verify the manifest was created:

$ ls /var/lib/pulp/local_repos/my_file_repo
PULP_MANIFEST test.txt

Now, you can import your local source as a file type repository. Use the file:// URL scheme and the name of the directory to specify an Upstream URL, such as file:///var/lib/pulp/local_repos/my_file_repo.

If you update the contents of your directory, re-run Pulp Manifest and sync the repository in orcharhino. For more information, see Synchronizing Repositories.

If you use local file repositories on your orcharhino Server, ensure to add the path to the allowed paths Pulp can import repositories from. Run orcharhino-installer --foreman-proxy-content-pulpcore-additional-import-paths /var/lib/pulp/My_Local_repo to add your local path.

Uploading files to a file type repository

Use this procedure to upload files to a file type repository.

Procedure

In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Content > Products.
Select a product by name.
Select a file type repository by name.
Click Browse to search and select the file you want to upload.
Click Upload to upload the selected file to orcharhino Server.
Visit the URL where the repository is published to see the file.

CLI procedure

$ hammer repository upload-content \
--id repo_ID \
--organization "My_Organization" \
--path example_file

The --path option can indicate a file, a directory of files, or a glob expression of files. Globs must be escaped by single or double quotes.

Downloading files to a host from a file type repository

You can download files to a client over HTTPS using curl -O, and optionally over HTTP if the Unprotected option for repositories is selected.

Prerequisites

You have a file type repository.
You know the name of the file you want to download to clients from the file type repository.
To use HTTPS you require the following certificates on the client:
- The katello-server-ca.crt. For more information, see Importing the Katello root CA certificate in Configuring authentication for orcharhino users.
- An Organization Debug Certificate. For more information, see Creating an Organization Debug Certificate in Managing Organizations and Locations.

Procedure

In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Content > Products.
Select a product by name.
Select a file type repository by name.
Ensure to select the Unprotected checkbox to access the repository published through HTTP.
Copy the Published At URL.

On your client, download the file from orcharhino Server:

For HTTPS:

$ curl \
--cacert ./_katello-server-ca.crt \
--cert ./_My_Organization_key-cert.pem \
--remote-name \
https://orcharhino.example.com/pulp/content/My_Organization_Label/Library/custom/My_Product_Label/My_Repository_Label/My_File

For HTTP:

$ curl \
--remote-name \
http://orcharhino.example.com/pulp/content/My_Organization_Label/Library/custom/My_Product_Label/My_Repository_Label/My_File

CLI procedure

List the file type repositories.

$ hammer repository list --content-type file
---|------------|-------------------|--------------|----
ID | NAME       | PRODUCT           | CONTENT TYPE | URL
---|------------|-------------------|--------------|----
7  | My_Files   | My_File_Product   | file         |
---|------------|-------------------|--------------|----

Display the repository information.

$ hammer repository info \
--name "My_Files" \
--organization-id My_Organization_ID \
--product "My_File_Product"

If Unprotected is enabled, the output is similar to this:

Publish Via HTTP:   yes
Published At:       https://orcharhino.example.com/pulp/content/My_Organization_Label/Library/custom/My_File_Product_Label/My_Files_Label/

If Unprotected is not enabled, the output is similar to this:

Publish Via HTTP:   no
Published At:       https://orcharhino.example.com/pulp/content/My_Organization_Label/Library/custom/My_File_Product_Label/My_Files_Label/

On your client, download the file from orcharhino Server:

For HTTPS:

$ curl \
--cacert ./_katello-server-ca.crt \
--cert ./_My_Organization_key-cert.pem \
--remote-name \
https://orcharhino.example.com/pulp/content/My_Organization_Label/Library/custom/My_Product_Label/My_Repository_Label/My_File

For HTTP:

$ curl \
--remote-name \
http://orcharhino.example.com/pulp/content/My_Organization_Label/Library/custom/My_Product_Label/My_Repository_Label/My_File

Creating File Type Repositories for Installation Media

You can use file repositories to provide local installation media for Ubuntu.

ATIX AG provides file-type repositories for installation media. You can synchronize them to provision hosts in disconnected environments by using local installation media. For a list of upstream URLs, see Using file repositories for installation media for Debian/Ubuntu in the ATIX Service Portal.

ATIX AG provides the following installation media as file-type repository:

Debian 12
Debian 11
Debian 10
Ubuntu 24.04
Ubuntu 22.04
Ubuntu 20.04
Ubuntu 18.04

Creating file type repository

Navigate to Content > Products and click Create Product.
Enter a Name for your product.
Optional: Select a sync plan from the Sync Plan drop down menu.
Click Save to create the product.
On the Repositories tab of the previously created product, click New Repository.
Enter a Name for the repository. If you use the file repository as installation media for offline installations, we recommend adding offline installation media to indicate the offline installation capability, for example Ubuntu 24.04 offline installation media.
Select file as Type.
Enter the Upstream URL from Using file repositories for installation media for Debian/Ubuntu in the ATIX Service Portal.
Click Save to create the repository.
On the Repositories tab, select your previously created repository and click Sync Now.
Once synchronized, navigate to Content > Products and select the previously created product.
On the Repositories tab, select the previously created repository.
Copy the Published At URL.

Creating installation media

To provision Ubuntu 24.04, you need to provide both the ISO image and the extracted ISO image on your orcharhino Server or the relevant orcharhino Proxy Server. This example uses orcharhino Server.

On your orcharhino Server, use the Published At URL from your synchronized file repository to download the ISO image:

$ cd /tmp/
$ wget https://orcharhino.example.com/pulp/content/My_Organization/Library/custom/My_Product/My_Repository/ubuntu-24.04-latest.iso

Mount the ISO image:
```
$ mount ubuntu-24.04-latest.iso /mnt
```

Provide the ISO image and the extracted directory under orcharhino.example.com/pub:

$ mkdir -p /var/www/html/pub/installation_media/ubuntu/24.04-x86_64/
$ cp ubuntu-24.04-latest.iso /var/www/html/pub/installation_media/ubuntu/24.04-x86_64.iso
$ cp -a /mnt/* /var/www/html/pub/installation_media/ubuntu/24.04-x86_64/

Ensure the path in /pub/ matches the path in your Preseed default PXELinux Autoinstall template.

Unmount and delete the ISO image:

$ umount /mnt/
$ rm -f ubuntu-24.04-latest.iso

Use http://orcharhino.example.com/pub/installation_media/ubuntu/24.04-x86_64/ to set up your installation media entry in orcharhino. For more information, see Adding Installation Media to orcharhino.

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").