docs/introduction.rst

   1 Introduction
   2 ============
   3
   4 What is Proxmox Offline Mirror?
   5 -------------------------------
   6
   7 With the Proxmox Offline Mirror tool, you can manage a local apt mirror for all package updates for
   8 Proxmox and Debian projects. From this local apt mirror you can create an external medium, for
   9 example a USB flash drive or a local network share, to update systems which cannot access the
  10 package repositories directly via the internet.  Such systems might be restricted by policies to
  11 access the public internet or are completely air-gapped.  Finally, you can also manage subscriptions
  12 for such restricted hosts.
  13
  14 This tool consists of two binaries:
  15
  16 ``proxmox-offline-mirror``
  17   The mirror tool to create and manage mirrors and media containing repositories
  18
  19 ``proxmox-apt-repo``
  20   The helper to use the external medium on offline Proxmox VE, Proxmox Mail Gateway or Proxmox
  21   Backup Server systems as well as managing subscriptions on these systems.
  22
  23 Terminology
  24 -----------
  25
  26 There are three basic entity types available for configuration:
  27
  28 *keys*
  29   Subscription keys are either for the mirroring system itself, or for the offline systems.
  30
  31   They are configured with ``proxmox-offline-mirror key ...``
  32
  33 *mirrors*
  34   A mirror consists of the metadata of an upstream repository and a local path where **snapshots**
  35   of the upstream repository are stored.
  36
  37   - configured with ``proxmox-offline-mirror config mirror ...``
  38
  39   - used with ``proxmox-offline-mirror mirror ...``
  40
  41 *media*
  42   A medium consisting of local mirrors and a path where the mirrors are synced to
  43
  44   - configured with ``proxmox-offline-mirror config medium ...``
  45
  46   - used with ``proxmox-offline-mirror medium ...``
  47
  48
  49 Technical Overview
  50 ------------------
  51
  52 Behind the scenes, one or more `pools` consisting of
  53
  54 - a pool directory containing checksum files (e.g., `sha256/3dc7bc5f82cdcc4ea0f69dd30d5f6bb19e0ccc36f4a79c865eed0e7a370cd5e4`)
  55 - a base directory containing directories and hardlinks to the checksum files inside the pool
  56   directory
  57
  58 are used to store the repository contents ("snapshots") in a space-efficient way.
  59
  60 When adding a file, the following steps are done: first the ckecksum file(s) are added, then they
  61 are linked under one or more paths.  A garbage collect operation will iterate over all files in the
  62 base directory and remove those, which are not (or no longer) a hardlink to any checksum files. It
  63 will also remove any checksum files which have no hardlinks outside of the pool's checksum file
  64 directories.
  65
  66 The default config path is ``/etc/proxmox-offline-mirror.cfg``, but it can be overriden on a per
  67 command basis (for example, to allow operation as a non-root user). Use the ``--config`` CLI option or
  68 the ``PROXMOX_OFFLINE_MIRROR_CONFIG`` environment variable.
  69
  70
  71 .. _get_help:
  72
  73 Getting Help
  74 ------------
  75
  76 .. _get_help_enterprise_support:
  77
  78 Enterprise Support
  79 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  80
  81 Users with a `Proxmox Offline Mirror` subscription have access to the `Proxmox Customer Portal
  82 <https://my.proxmox.com>`_ for offline mirroring/key handling related issues, provided the
  83 corresponding offline system has a valid subscription level higher than `Community`. The customer
  84 portal provides support with guaranteed response times from the Proxmox developers.
  85
  86 For more information or for volume discounts, please contact sales@proxmox.com.
  87
  88 Community Support Forum
  89 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  90
  91 We always encourage our users to discuss and share their knowledge using the
  92 `Proxmox Community Forum`_. The forum is moderated by the Proxmox support team.
  93 The large user base is spread out all over the world. Needless to say that such
  94 a large forum is a great place to get information.
  95
  96 Mailing Lists
  97 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  98
  99 Proxmox Offline Mirror is fully open-source and contributions are welcome! The Proxmox VE
 100 development mailing list acts as the primary communication channel for offline mirror developers:
 101
 102 :Mailing list for developers: `PVE Development List`_
 103
 104 Bug Tracker
 105 ^^^^^^^^^^^
 106
 107 Proxmox runs a public bug tracker at `<https://bugzilla.proxmox.com>`_. If an
 108 issue appears, file your report there. An issue can be a bug, as well as a
 109 request for a new feature or enhancement. The bug tracker helps to keep track
 110 of the issue and will send a notification once it has been solved.
 111
 112 License
 113 -------
 114
 115 |pom-copyright|
 116
 117 This software is written by Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH <support@proxmox.com>
 118
 119 Proxmox Offline Mirror is free and open source software: you can use it,
 120 redistribute it, and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General
 121 Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3
 122 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 123
 124 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
 125 ``WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY``; without even the implied warranty of
 126 ``MERCHANTABILITY`` or ``FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE``.  See the GNU
 127 Affero General Public License for more details.
 128
 129 You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
 130 along with this program.  If not, see AGPL3_.