Introduction
- What happens when CAST Extend Offline does not contain an extension required for analysis?
Update process
- Creating the bundle
- Upload the bundle to CAST Extend Offline
  - Via AIP Console
  - Via the CAST Extend Offline API and curl

CAST Extend Offline is deprecated. Please use CAST Extend local server instead.

Summary: step-by-step instructions for updating CAST Extend Offline with new content.

Introduction

CAST Extend Offline (in v. ≥ 1.1.0) is delivered "empty" without any preconfigured extensions - you will therefore need to populate Extend Offline with extensions before you can use it. In addition, you may want to update CAST Extend Offline to add new extensions or to include more recent releases of extensions that are already available in Extend Offline.

The process of updating is as follows:

Create a new bundle (an .extarchive file) containing the extensions you require using ExtendCli
Upload the bundle to update CAST Extend Offline:
- using AIP Console ≥ 1.12.0
- using the CAST Extend Offline API and curl

When CAST Extend Offline is updated with a new bundle of extensions and extensions have already been added, a "merge" is actioned, rather than a "delete and add". This means that no extensions are ever removed, i.e.:

Any extensions that already exist in CAST Extend Offline but do not exist in the new bundle will remain as they are in CAST Extend Offline
Any extensions that already exist in CAST Extend Offline at a given version number will remain as they are in CAST Extend Offline when:
- an older version of the same extension is added to the bundle (both versions will be available for use)
- a newer version of the same extension is added to the bundle (both versions will be available for use)
- an older and a newer version of the same extension are added to the bundle (all three versions will be available for use)
- the same version of the extension is added to the bundle

The ability to create a bundle using the live CAST Extend website is no longer supported. You must use ExtendCli.

What happens when CAST Extend Offline does not contain an extension required for analysis?

The analysis will fail during the "Content discovery" step with the following error:

Update process

Creating the bundle

See ExtendCli for more information.

Upload the bundle to CAST Extend Offline

Via AIP Console

If you are using CAST Extend Offline with AIP Console, the process of updating CAST Extend Offline is handled automatically by AIP Console. Login to AIP Console with a user account that already has the Admin role and switch to the Admin Center:

Now move to the Administration Center - System Settings panel and expand the CAST Extend option:

Click to enlarge

Drag and drop your downloaded bundle in to the options screen, or click the button to choose the .extarchive file directly. The bundle will then be uploaded and added to CAST Extend Offline automatically and all new extensions added to the bundle will be available immediately.

Via the CAST Extend Offline API and curl

CAST Extend has a built in API that can be accessed in a manner of ways. It is therefore possible to upload a new bundle using the API, for example with curl:

curl -F "data=@<path_to_file.extarchive>" http://<server>:<port>/api/update

curl option -F

This causes curl to POST data using the Content-Type multipart/form-data. See https://curl.haxx.se/docs/manpage.html#-F

<path_to_file.extarchive>

The path to the .extarchive bundle file.

Form part of the URL to your on premises CAST Extend Offline. For example:

<server>: the local server on which CAST Extend Offline is installed.
<port>: the port number which CAST Extend Offline runs on. This is determined during the installation (default port number is set to 8085).

<port>

For example:

curl -F "data=@D:\downloads\b2b430df976c412ca29e799fff0fd86e.extarchive" http://cast_extend:8085/api/update