JFrog Distribution moves a defined software release to the locations that need it. It packages release content into bundles and manages their signing, permissions and delivery to destinations in the JFrog platform. It is useful when distributing the same approved release across several sites requires more coordination than copying individual files. This entry concerns JFrog Distribution, which is different from the open-source container registry also called Distribution.
Deployment and operating notes
The recovered description identifies JFrog Distribution and its Release Bundle workflow. JFrog maintains a Distribution chart with Artifactory Enterprise Plus as a prerequisite. The similarly named CNCF Distribution project is a different registry server and is not a replacement for release-bundle signing, distribution and enterprise topology.
Inventory source Artifactory, destination Edge instances, access configuration, signing keys, release-bundle versions and database state before an upgrade. Follow JFrog’s chart and application compatibility guidance, including current image-migration notices. The chart documentation notes that Redis was removed from the chart starting with Distribution 2.37.0, illustrating why old dependency values should not be copied wholesale. Test a signed bundle through creation, distribution and verification at a non-production destination. Preserve keys and a coordinated backup sufficient to recover the platform’s metadata, not just the distributed files. Keep the old distribution path until target permissions and artifact checksums are verified; a Kubernetes rollout alone does not demonstrate a successful release-delivery migration.
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JFrog Distribution is an on-premise, centralized platform that lets you provision software release distribution. It is a core part of JFrog Enterprise+, managing Release Bundles and their distribution processes, including release content, permission levels, and target destinations.
Distribution provides a secure and structured platform to distribute release binaries to multiple remote locations and update them as new release versions are produced. As part of the release flow, release bundles are verified by the source destination to ensure that they are signed correctly and safe to use.
JFrog Distribution securely manages the distribution of your software releases offering the following benefits:
- Structured platform to distribute release binaries as a single coherent release bundle
- Secure delivery and distribution by signing the release bundle
- Efficient network utilization by optimizing replication, dramatically reducing network load and release bundle synchronization time from source Artifactory to target instance or Edge node.
- Auditing and traceability by tracking all changes associated with a release bundle
Chart Details
This chart will do the following:
- Deploy Mongodb database.
- Deploy a Redis.
- Deploy a distributor.
- Deploy a distribution.
Requirements
- A running Kubernetes cluster
- Dynamic storage provisioning enabled
- Default StorageClass set to allow services using the default StorageClass for persistent storage
- A running Artifactory Enterprise Plus
- Kubectl installed and setup to use the cluster
- Helm installed and setup to use the cluster (helm init)
System Requirements
Hardware
- JFrog Distribution requires the following hardware:
- Processor: 8 cores
- RAM Memory: 8 GB
- Storage: 50 GB
Platforms
JFrog Distribution supports any non-Windows platform that can run Docker v1.11 and above, and in addition, has been tested and verified to run as a non-Docker installation on the following 64-bit flavors of Linux:
- Ubuntu 14.04
- Centos 7.x
- Debian 8.x
- Red Hat 6.x
- Red Hat 7.x
The Distribution Flow
The high-level distribution flow has two main steps:
Creating a Release Bundle
A release bundle is created by calling the Create Release Bundle REST API endpoint on JFrog Distribution. This call specifies a variety of parameters including the files comprising the release bundle, and different properties associated with it. Since a release bundle is immutable, any file included in a release bundle cannot be deleted from Artifactory. JFrog Distribution collects the required metadata about the artifacts specified in the request (as an AQL query).
Distributing a Release Bundle
A release bundle is distributed by calling the Distribute Release Bundle REST API endpoint on JFrog Distribution. The distribution is itself split into three steps:
Start a distribution transaction
In this step, JFrog Distribution queries JFrog Mission Control for details on the distribution target nodes. It then primes the target nodes to receive the distributed packages by providing information about distributed files such as their checksum, and providing a GPG key to validate the authenticity of the bundle as a whole.
Transfer files with smart replication
In this step, JFrog Distribution invokes the Replicator on Artifactory which distributes files over to the target node by replicating them.
End a distribution transaction
In this step, JFrog Distribution notifies the Edge node that the transaction is complete. In turn, the Edge node validates authenticity of the transferred bundle using the GPG key provided when the transaction started. It then validates the integrity of the transferred files by validating their checksum and hosts them in the correct place as specified in the release bundle.
Sources & further reading
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