Prior to creating applications and deployments, Application Workspace's Release & Patch Management always verifies that the application media it downloads is valid and remains unchanged from the version that Recast's application management team downloads from the vendor and publishes to the Application Workspace Setup Store.
What is the Setup Store?
The Setup Store, also known within Recast as the Application Catalog, contains thousands of curated applications available via Application Workspace Release & Patch Management.
Applications are published to the Setup Store once Recast's application management team establishes the validity of their content. The Application Workspace Setup Store connector then consumes Setup Store metadata added by the team, allowing Application Workspace to confirm that the content remains unchanged.
Content Verification Process:
1. Recast's application management team downloads the installation media from the vendor and adds application metadata to the Setup Store. The metadata includes the download link to the installer and the hash checksum calculated from the installation media downloaded from the vendor.
2. The Application Workspace Setup Store Connector consumes the Setup Store metadata and installation media. The checksum is calculated and compared with the checksum in the Setup Store metadata.
3. When the checksum matches (confirming that we are using the same installation media the Setup Store Operations Team used when generating the metadata), Application Workspace creates the Application Workspace package. The installation media is stored in the Application Workspace Content Store and the Application Workspace package metadata (including the hash value) is stored in the Application Workspace database.
4. When the Application Workspace Agent begins to deploy the Application Workspace package, it downloads the content from Application Workspace Content Store and receives the Application Workspace package metadata. The checksum is then calculated and compared with the checksum in the Application Workspace package metadata.
5. When the checksum matches the value received from the Application Workspace package metadata (confirming that the downloaded content is unchanged and the content matches what the application management team used when generating the original metadata in the Setup Store), the Application Workspace Agent continues to perform the actions defined in the Application Workspace package.
