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Subject: Re: Use of ACE for a consumer application
From: Marcel Offermans <marcel.offermans@luminis.nl>
In-Reply-To: 
 <CAPMKwsZAygk-zH2rxTUmb4pw8K9_fOfLrLHG7nU6VrrMR=U4dQ@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2013 23:45:06 -0400
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 <CAPMKwsZAygk-zH2rxTUmb4pw8K9_fOfLrLHG7nU6VrrMR=U4dQ@mail.gmail.com>
To: <users@ace.apache.org>

Hello Dan,

On Mar 26, 2013, at 7:41 AM, Dan Gravell <elstensoftware@googlemail.com> =
wrote:

> Hi. I'm interested in using ACE in my product. I've always had trouble
> managing the configuration of my OSGi bundles. I create a new release =
each
> week with a set of bundles updated. Sometimes I add bundles, sometimes =
I
> remove, but quite often something seems to go wrong with the =
configuration.
>=20
> What I really want is something that can download the latest =
distribution
> and install it for me, when the user says so. It feels like ACE can do =
this.

Yes.

> Unfortunately I cannot see much documentation on the site, so may I be
> indulged some questions?

Sure.

> - How many targets can ACE scale to? I have over 2000 new users each =
month,
> and probably about 20,000 active users

Hard to tell exactly, but we've setup ACE in such a way that you can not =
only create a single server for all the targets, but also create a =
master server with several "relay" servers (which act like proxies) to =
spread the load.

It also depends a bit on the number of updates, size of bundles and how =
often these targets poll for changes.

> - How does target management work when users are behind =
common-or-garden
> ISPs with dynamic IPs etc? I don't really care about what each =
individual
> target is running, although it would be a nice feature to be able to
> remotely manage a given target. But this would be exceptional (maybe
> changing the logging on a particular user's target to diagnose some =
problem)

Right now, ACE keeps track of each individual target, but it can be =
setup so any new target registers automatically and gets a specific =
software distribution.

ACE uses a management agent, which polls the server using HTTP. So =
dynamic IPs are no problem, and firewalls usually also not.

> - How can this work with an installer? Ideally I'd like to install my
> entire product when the user downloads it and not have a two stage
> installation

That is currently not supported, unfortunately, but it is definitely an =
interesting use case that we should explore. We actually do have some =
support for installing our deployment packages from a local filesystem, =
but we cannot at this point make a seamless switch from local =
installation to remote installation. I would not mind at all putting =
that on the roadmap though.

> - My app runs a Jetty web server where the Update UI lies... how does =
this
> work with ACE? Do I contact the ACE server API, or interact with the =
agent
> bundles co-located on the same OSGi container?

The management agent by default has an embedded scheduler that =
periodically polls the server. Instead of that scheduler, you can also =
directly invoke the update task from OSGi (it is a service). So your =
update UI could do that, and disable the scheduler.

I'm sure these answers have triggered more questions, so don't hesitate =
to keep asking! :)

Greetings, Marcel