Introduction

This component provides CAST's Extend system (extend.castsoftware.com) as an "offline" component which can be installed as an on-premises solution and is designed to be used in the following situations:

• with Console (≥ 1.21.0-funcrel) and Nodes managed by Console
  • Configuring AIP Console to use CAST Extend from scratch
  • Changing CAST Extend settings for an existing installation
• as a standalone server that can be used with CAST Extension Downloader

What is the difference with CAST Extend Offline (deprecated)?

At first glance, this component is very similar to CAST Extend Offline, however, CAST Extend local server has one major difference: it is configured to connect to CAST's Extend system (extend.castsoftware.com) to fetch extensions over the public internet (all other functionality provided in CAST Extend Offline is included in CAST Extend local server):

What is the use case for CAST Extend local server?

• CAST Extend local server acts as an "intermediary" placed in between Console (or Extension Downloader) and CAST's Extend system (extend.castsoftware.com) where public internet access is not available to Console (or Extension Downloader) or needs to be restricted.
• CAST Extend local server will automatically download and store any extension requested by  Console (or Extension Downloader) from CAST's Extend system (extend.castsoftware.com) if the extension does not already exist within the CAST Extend local server storage.
• Extensions can be manually uploaded to CAST Extend local server if required - see Update CAST Extend local server with new content.

Note that:

• CAST Extend local server should only be installed once per organization
• can be installed only on Microsoft Windows

Detailed workflow and benefits

When a connection to CAST's Extend system (extend.castsoftware.com) is available (online mode), CAST Extend local server:

• will connect every two hours a day to fetch the extension "manifest" from CAST Extend - i.e. information that Console requires in order to request the correct extension (this can also be run manually in Console - see Administration Center - Settings - CAST Extend):
  • available extensions
  • available releases
  • technology to extension mappings
• will download extensions from CAST Extend only if required: download is only triggered when extensions are not already present in the CAST Extend local server storage. Installation of required extensions for an analysis will therefore be much faster when extensions are already available in CAST Extend local server storage.

When a connection to CAST's Extend system (extend.castsoftware.com) is unavailable (offline mode) i.e. expired maintenance date or not reachable due to network issues:

• if the required extensions are already present in CAST Extend local server storage (already downloaded previously from CAST Extend, or manually uploaded), Console will be able to continue the analysis/snapshot process without interruption
• if the required extensions are NOT present in CAST Extend local server, then the analysis will fail in CAST Console at the "install extensions" or "update extensions" steps.

Prerequisites

See CAST Extend local server - Prerequisites.

Installation/Manage/Uninstall

See:

• Install CAST Extend local server (including how to configure Console to use CAST Extend local server).
• Manage CAST Extend local server via Administration Center
• Uninstall CAST Extend local server

Update content

See Update CAST Extend local server with new content.