How to Use Distributed App Repositories in IGEL UMS

Distributed App Repositories can help to securely distribute apps to locations with no internet connection or low bandwith. You can find more information on the benefits, use cases and best practices in the IGEL Blog post https://www.igel.com/blog/the-power-of-a-distributed-app-repository-enabling-access-for-offline-and-low-bandwidth-environments/ .

By enabling and configuring this feature, binaries of apps will be stored on a self-hosted WebDAV server. Devices can then download the binaries of those apps from the WebDAV server, but the metadata will still be downloaded from the UMS Integrated App Repository or the IGEL App Repository.

The feature is offered as an enterprise feature in the IGEL OS Editions licensing model. For details, see IGEL OS Editions.

Prerequisites

Universal Management Suite

You need to have the following UMS permissions :

App management; see How to Manage Global Permissions in the IGEL UMS Web App
Write access for UMS Administration > UMS Network > Server; for details on access rights, see Object-Related Access Rights

OS 12 Devices

The devices using the Distributed App Repository must run IGEL OS 12.5.0 or higher.

WebDAV Server

At least one self-hosted WebDAV server must exist. This server will act as the Distributed App Repository, therefore, it needs to fulfill the following requirements:

Enough disk space to store binaries
A user with write permission to update and add new files
A user with read permissions used by the devices to download the app binaries
Digest login enabled
It is recommended to use a secured connection (HTTPS):
- The UMS needs a certificate for the WebDAV server to be used for file uploads if SSL is used. This certificate is also forwarded to the devices to be used to download the files.
- To make the certificate visible, the public key has to be imported into the UMS. Use Import a root CA certificate for this. For details, see Web Certificates in the IGEL UMS .
- The certificate must contain Subject Alternative Names (SANs) to be imported into the UMS.
Configuration to support file uploads larger than 1 GB, as the OS 12 base image contains large files. It is recommended to configure the upload limit to 2 GB.

For an example configuration of the upload limit using Red Hat, see https://access.redhat.com/articles/6975397. (This link leads to third-party documentation that we don’t maintain or support. For other third-party solutions, please refer to their respective documentation.)

Process Overview

To use a Distributed App Repository in your UMS environment:

Prepare the WebDAV Server.
Configure the repository in the UMS Web App or through profiles.
Assign priorities to the repositories.
Apps are automatically upload to the repositories.
Confirm repository configuration on devices.

Configure Distributed App Repositories in the IGEL Environment

There are multiple ways to connect the Distributed App Repositories to your IGEL environment and OS 12 devices:

Central configuration in the UMS Web App
Configurations applied through profiles

Central Configuration in the UMS Web App

You can add a central app repository configuration in the UMS Web App, under Apps > Settings > UMS as update proxy > Manage Binary App Repositories.
This configuration works as a global configuration and is applied automatically to all OS 12 devices managed by the IGE UMS. This configuration will enable the automatic upload of app binaries from the UMS to the repository server.

Perform the following steps to set up one or multiple repositories in the UMS Web App:

Navigate to the Apps area.

Open Settings.

If not yet done, enable UMS as update proxy. For more information, see Configuring Global Settings for the Update of IGEL OS Apps.

You can also use the app repository without the UMS as an update proxy. In this case, the repository gets the binaries directly from the IGEL App Portal.

On the same tab, open Manage Binary App Repositories.

By clicking + you can add a new repository with the following parameters:
- Name
  Name of the repository to add.
- WebDAV URL
  URL of an existing WebDAV server. Example: http://this.domain/repo Do not use “/” at the end of the Webdav URL. This URL is used by the UMS to upload binaries. If no Load Balancer URL is given, devices will use it to download the binaries.
- Load Balancer URL
  URL of the load balancer, if the WebDAV server is balanced by one. Devices will use it to download the binaries.
- Download User
  Username that is used to download binaries from the WebDAV server. Username should be given without any domain part. This is the Read user.
- Download User Password
  Password that is used to download binaries from the WebDAV server.
- Upload User
  Username that is used to upload binaries to the WebDAV server. Username should be given without any domain part. This is the Write user.
- Upload User Password
  Password that is used to upload binaries to the WebDAV server.
- Priority
  Priority that this repository will be handled by. See more details on priority explanation below.

If you use a secured connection to the server, you need to import the SSL certificate as root CA certificate. For details, see Web Certificates in the IGEL UMS .

Configuration Through OS 12 Profiles

You can add the app repository configuration to the IGEL OS 12 devices through OS 12 base system profiles. You can configure the repositories under System > Update > External binary source.
This way, you can assign different Distributed App Repository configurations to different sets of devices through the profiles.

You can add the repository configuration in a profile:

Go to System > Update and add the repository under External binary source.

Add the Repository URL and define the Username and Password that is used to download binaries from the WebDAV server.

If an HTTPS connection is used, you can also add the file path to the SSL certificate.

Set the priority according to your needs. The larger the number, the higher the priority.

Assign Priorities to Distributed App Repositories

During the app update, the device will check for the available repositories, and the repository with the highest priority value will be used to download binaries. If none of the repositories is available, the download will fall back to the UMS Integrated App Repository (UMS as update proxy) or the IGEL App Repository (of the UMS App Portal).

If you first want to configure a Distributed App Repository, but don’t want IGEL OS 12 devices to download from this repository yet, you can assign a negative priority value to that repository in your central configuration. This way, app binaries will be synchronized to that repository, but devices won't download from it. However, the repository can then be configured via profiles for some devices with a higher priority to trigger the download mechanism.

For example:

Set up a Distributed App Repository named "Local Download" with priority -1.

Create a base system profile, and configure the same "Local Download" repository under System > Update > External binary source with the highest priority, for example: 300.

Assign the profile to the devices that should download from that repository.

App Upload to Repository

App binaries are automatically sent to the configured repository within minutes after the app is imported into the UMS.

Apps normally cached by the UMS update proxy are uploaded to the Distributed App Repositories. If the UMS is not set as the update proxy, all apps imported to the UMS Web App are also uploaded to the Distributed App Repositories.

Once an app is cached in the repository, synchronization to the repository is performed at regular intervals. The interval is the same as defined under Apps > Settings > Automatic Updates.

For details on importing apps, see How to Import IGEL OS Apps from the IGEL App Portal.

Confirm the Application of the Configurations on the Device

After some time, the UMS automatically sends the Distributed App Repository configurations to the devices if the repository was configured centrally. You can check if the configuration is applied to the device doing the following:

In the UMS Web App go to Devices and update the device.

Shadow the device and go to Setup > System > Update.

Under External Binary Sources, you should see your WebDAV server.

If the entry is not visible, restart the device.

Hints for WebDAV servers

Apache HTTP with WebDAV

The password for the WebDAV users should be created with the command ‘htdigest’ to work properly.

Windows Server IIS with Webdav

Make sure the following features are installed:

WebDAV publishing
Digest Authentication

When setting up virtual directories, ensure that:

The WebDAV users must have access
Digest Authentication must be enabled
Directory Browsing must be enabled

As the uploaded files could contain + signs, the IIS WebDAV must be configured to accept them. Add the following to ‘web.config’ of your web site:

CODE

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> 
<configuration> 
    <system.webServer> 
        <directoryBrowse enabled="true" /> 
        <security>  
            <requestFiltering allowDoubleEscaping="true" />  
        </security>  
    </system.webServer> 
</configuration>