App Appliance

App Appliances are predefined images which consists of the App, the UCS management system and the UCS runtime environment. These App Appliances are currently provided as VMware, VirtualBox and KVM images. By default the UCS branding is used, but it is possible to use a special branding.

INI variables

The variables described below can be added to the App Center INI file to define the App Appliance of an App.

Appliance creation

ApplianceCreate

Boolean value if an Appliance should be created for this App.

ApplianceName

The name of the App Appliance.

ApplianceLogo

The logo of the Appliance which is shown in the first page of the setup wizard. This graphic needs to be in the SVG format.

ApplianceAllowPreconfiguredSetup

It activates the fast demo mode for the App Appliance. That means the system (as well as the App) is configured and pre-joned with a pre-defined domainname. When activating this feature, the correct functioning of the App in this mode needs to be ensured. (Boolean value)

ApplianceMemory

The Appliance is created with this memory size.

ApplianceAdditionalApps

A list of App IDs which should be installed into the App Appliance as well.

AppliancePreInstalledPackages

A list of packages which should be installed while the Appliance is built.

Black listing pages/fields in the setup wizard

AppliancePagesBlackList

A list of setup pages which shouldn't be displayed. By default, it should be set to software otherwise the whole software packages have to be shipped with the Appliance. Possible values are software and role.

ApplianceFieldsBlackList

Some fields in the Appliance setup dialog can be removed. Possible values are password, network, nameservers, proxy, hostname, locale, basesystem, ad, preconfigured_system, domaincontroller_backup, domaincontroller_slave, memberserver.

Black/white listing Apps in the App Center

ApplianceBlackList

A list of App IDs which are not shown in the App Center once the Appliances has been configured.

ApplianceWhiteList

Instead of blacklisting the App IDs via ApplianceBlacklist it is possible to define a positive list of App IDs which are shown in the App Center once the Appliance is configured.

UMC favorites category

For an App Appliance, particular UMC modules may be added to the UMC category __Favorites__.

ApplianceFavoriteModules

A comma separated list of modules (in the format <moduleID>[:<moduleFlavor>]) which are displayed in category __Favorites__ in UMC. (See the UCR variable umc/web/favorites/default or the UDM users property umcProperty: favorites=... as examples. Note that module IDs and flavors are also written into the URL after the hash (#) sign.)

First steps information via README_APPLIANCE files

The content of the App's README_APPLIANCE_DE and README_APPLIANCE_EN files will be shown prominently on the UCS portal page upon the user's first visit. They should contain guiding information of how to proceed when having set up the appliance and being redirected to the portal page for the first time.

Branding configuration of the Appliance

The following values need to be specified in order to

ApplianceCssBackground

A CSS definition for the background image on the Web overview site. CSS gradient definitions can be used herein, as well.

AppliancePrimaryColor

The primary color of the App Appliance. In general, this should be the main product color. This color will be used, e.g., as filling color of the header background during the setup wizard. If the primary color is dark, the font color (for text on the ApplianceCssBackground) of the branding will be white, if the primary color is bright, the font color of the branding will be black.

ApplianceSecondaryColor

The secondary color of the App Appliance which is used to accompany and contrast the primary color in the branding.

ApplianceBootsplashLogo

The logo which is shown during the system boot process in SVG format. It will be placed over the background as defined by ApplianceCssBackground.

ApplianceUmcHeaderLogo

This graphic need to be in SVG format. It will be placed on the top left in the header of the setup wizard, the welcome screen, and the overview site. Its height should be about 14px and the icon color should be either white or black (more precisely #282828) depending on the background color.

ApplianceWelcomeScreenLogo

The SVG graphic which is displayed in the welcome screen (as shown directly after the boot process).

ApplianceWelcomeScreenFontColor

The font color to be used in the welcome screen (and also for the bootsplash screen and grub menu). Allowed values are white and black.

Branding configuration for the portal page of the Appliance

Since UCS 4.2, the concept of a central portal page has been implemented. For an App Appliance, it is possible to adjust the branding of the portal page via the INI file:

AppliancePortalTitle

Title which is displayed at the top of the portal page (defaults to "<AppName> Appliance").

AppliancePortalLogo

An SVG graphic which is displayed in the header of the portal page.

AppliancePortalFontColor

Font color (and color of header icons) to be used on the portal page. Allowed values are white and black.

AppliancePortalBackgroundImage

An image file with a rather large resolution (e.g., 1600x1200), yet a medium file size (e.g., 300 KB), that will be displayed as background on the portal page.

AppliancePortalCssBackground

A CSS definition for the background on the portal page. CSS gradient definitions can be used herein, as well. If a background image is given, the CSS definition will not take effect.

Example

This example is taken directly from the App Center. It describes the App Appliance of Kopano:

ApplianceCreate = True
ApplianceName = Kopano
ApplianceLogo = Kopano-logo.svg
AppliancePagesBlackList = software
ApplianceFieldsBlackList = basesystem
AppliancePrimaryColor = #348fcd
ApplianceSecondaryColor = #add2eb
ApplianceCssBackground = linear-gradient(to bottom, #9bb9d3 0%, #f0f5f9 100%)
ApplianceBootsplashLogo = Kopano-logo.svg
ApplianceUmcHeaderLogo = logo_umc_header.svg
ApplianceWelcomeScreenLogo = Kopano-logo.svg
ApplianceCategoryModules = udm:users/user,udm:groups/group
ApplianceUmcCategoryLogo = logo_umc_category.svg
ApplianceAllowPreconfiguredSetup = True
ApplianceBlackList = kolab-enterprise,oxseforucs,egroupware,horde,tine20
ApplianceMemory = 2048
ApplianceAdditionalApps = z-push-kopano,fetchmail,kopano-webmeetings,kopano-webapp