# Bundle Management

The Entando Bundle CLI extends the functionality of ent through a dedicated bundle management system. Starting with Entando 7.1, ent bundle orchestrates the lifecycle of a project, packaging it into a convenient and recognizable docker-based bundle that can be inserted into any Entando Application. This composable approach takes advantage of a single project descriptor and repository, along with centralized API management and DB and Keycloak services. Common operations and the steps required to create an Entando Bundle are detailed below.

In addition, this document describes the series of ent ecr commands that manage bundle interactions with the Entando Component Repository (ECR). These are applicable to both docker-based bundles and their git-based predecessors (< Entando 7.1). Notable commands applicable to creating and deploying git-based bundles only are also discussed.

# Entando 7.1 Bundle Development

Beginning with Entando 7.1, the ent bundle CLI tool introduces a streamlined process to govern the files, structure, and management of Entando bundles. The bundle development lifecycle consists of 6 stages, each corresponding to a subcommand:

  • Initialization: ent bundle init initializes a new bundle project, either with the default files and folders or from an existing bundle in an Entando Hub. The bundle format relies on a single JSON descriptor as the project manifest.

  • Build: With the structure established, ent bundle build generates micro frontend (MFE) and microservice (MS) components. These are filtered by type and name and assigned version numbers.

  • Run: ent bundle run and Keycloak integration enable components to be tested locally, external to an Entando cluster.

  • Package: ent bundle pack generates the bundle artifacts, the bundle image and the microservice images. One image is created for each microservice while a single image is created for the bundle and micro frontends.

  • Publish: ent bundle publish pushes the Docker images to a Docker repository, after which the bundle can be deployed and installed.

  • Deploy: ent bundle deploy delivers a published bundle to the ECR of an Entando Application. The bundle custom resource is generated and tags are retrieved from Docker Hub.

  • Install: ent bundle install applies the bundle to the Entando instance. It is then available in the App Builder for unlimited reuse within the application.

See the Build and Publish a Simple Bundle tutorial to see the full process. And for more information on Entando Bundle specifications, go to the Bundle Details page.

# Docker-based Bundle Commands

Commands Subcommands Description
ent bundle build Build components (MFE, MS) with a selector
ent bundle deploy Deploy a bundle to the Local Hub of an Entando Application
ent bundle generate-cr Generate the Entando Custom Resource for a bundle project
ent bundle help Display help for ent bundle
ent bundle info Show status information for the bundle project
ent bundle init Initialize the project folder structure and descriptor
ent bundle install Install a bundle to the Local Hub of an Entando Application
ent bundle list List the available bundle components
ent bundle mfe add Add a micro frontend
rm Remove a micro frontend
ent bundle ms add Add a microservice
rm Remove a microservice
ent bundle run Run bundle components
ent bundle pack Create distribution artifacts (Docker images)
ent bundle publish Publish images to a Docker registry
ent --debug bundle Enable debug mode

# Initialization

Command Description
ent bundle init [name] Initialize a new empty project with the default structure and files
ent bundle init [name] --from-hub Initialize a bundle from the Entando Cloud Hub
ent bundle init [name] --from-hub --hub-url=[url] Initialize a bundle from a custom Entando Hub

# Command Details

  • --from-hub: This option leverages an existing bundle from an Entando Hub to jumpstart your project. The ent bundle tool will pull the package and rebuild the structure, after which it can be customized locally.

  • --hub-url: Use this option to specify a custom Entando Hub, else ent defaults to the Entando Cloud Hub

# Bundle Micro Frontend and Microservice

Command Descriptions
ent bundle mfe add --stack [stack-type] [name] Add a React or Angular micro frontend
ent bundle mfe add --stack custom [name] Add a custom stack micro frontend
ent bundle ms add --stack [stack-type] [name] Add a Spring Boot or node microservice
ent bundle ms add --stack custom [name]` Add a custom stack microservice

# Command Details

  • ent bundle mfe add --stack custom [name] & ent bundle ms add --stack custom [name]: When a custom stack is used for any MFE or microservice, custom commands for the build, run, and pack functions are required under the Command spec in the bundle descriptor entando.json. In addition, a version number must be specified for each component. Because Entando can only parse information from a pom.xml or package.json, the custom commands are required to manage the bundle, and the version number is required to track Docker images. For an example, see the Bundle Details page.

# Build

Command Descriptions
ent bundle build [component-name] Build a single component
ent bundle build [mfe-1] [ms-2]... Build one or more named components passed as arguments
ent bundle build --all Build all the components in the project
ent bundle build --all-ms Build all the microservices
ent bundle build --all-mfe Build all the micro frontends

# Command Details

  • ent bundle build:
    • The build command constructs the project files based on the entando.json descriptor.
    • Component type and stack determines the build process, e.g. a React MFE executes an npm build. It can be customized in the command section of the entando.json.
    • All the components in the bundle are built in parallel.
    • A log file for each component is generated inside the .entando/logs directory of the project.
  • --fail-fast:
    • Fail the command as soon as any subtask fails
  • --max-parallel=<value>:
    • Maximum number of subtasks running simultaneously. The default value is 3. Setting max-parallel=1 results in a sequential process.
  • --stdout:
    • Print the subtask logs to the standard output (stdout) instead of individual log files. This is very useful in CI/CD pipelines.

# Run

Command Descriptions
ent bundle run [component-name] Locally run a single component
ent bundle run [mfe-1] [ms-2]... Locally run one or more named components passed as arguments
ent bundle run --all Locally run all the components in the project
ent bundle run --all-ms Locally run all the microservices
ent bundle run --all-mfe Locally run all the micro frontends

# Command Details

  • ent bundle run:
    • The run command executes processes in accordance with the component type and stack, e.g mvn spring-boot:run for a Spring Boot microservice. It can be customized in the command section of the entando.json.
    • All the components in the bundle run in parallel, with the logs printed to the standard output.
    • The run command can be used to run multiple microservices side by side without collision in local development, but in production, they must run on port 8081.

# Package

Command Descriptions
ent bundle pack Generate the bundle artifacts, the bundle image and the microservice images
ent bundle pack --org [organization] Generate the bundle artifacts and images, passing the organization name to Docker Hub
ent bundle pack --file [my-dockerfile] Use a custom Dockerfile for the bundle
ent bundle pack --skip-docker-build Skip the building of Docker images
ent bundle images Extract the names and tags of Docker images

# Command Details

  • ent bundle pack:
    • The artifacts generated for micro frontends and microservices are stored in their respective component folders. File format depends on component type, e.g. a React micro frontend may result in HTML, JavaScript and CSS files.
    • Once the artifacts are generated, a Docker image for each microservice is built using the Dockerfile located in the microservice's folder. If the Dockerfile is missing, the pack command exits with failure.
    • The pack command executes either mvn package or npm run build, depending on the stack. These defaults can be overridden in the custom command section of the bundle descriptor entando.json.
  • --fail-fast:
    • Fail the command as soon as any subtask fails
  • --max-parallel=<value>:
    • Maximum number of subtasks running simultaneously. The default value is 3. Setting max-parallel=1 results in a sequential process.
  • --stdout:
    • Print the subtask logs to the standard output (stdout) instead of individual log files. This is very useful in CI/CD pipelines.
  • --skip-docker-build:
    • Allow the user to create a custom image build. The YAML descriptors and Dockerfile are created in the .output folder but no images are generated for the bundle and microservices.
  • ent bundle images:
    • Return the Docker image names and tags. These are used to manually build the bundle and microservice images in the .output and microservice folders, respectively.

# Publish

Command Descriptions
ent bundle publish Publish the Docker images to the default Docker registry
ent bundle publish --org [organization] Publish the Docker images to the default Docker registry, specifying the organization
ent bundle publish --registry [registry] Specify the Docker registry to which the images will be published

# Deploy

Command Description
ent bundle deploy Deploy a bundle to the Local Hub of an Entando Application

# Install

Command Description
ent bundle install Install a bundle in the Local Hub of an Entando Application

# Command Details

  • ent bundle install --conflict-strategy=OVERRIDE: If a bundle project has already been installed, the --conflict-strategy flag forces a CREATE, SKIP or OVERRIDE strategy for components

# ECR Commands

The following commands are applicable to both docker-based and git-based bundles.

Command Descriptions
ent ecr deploy Generate the custom resource (CR) and deploy it to the current profile
ent ecr gen-secret Generate and display the skeleton for a plugin Secret
ent ecr generate-cr Generate the custom resource
ent ecr get-bundle-id [repository-url] Calculate and display the bundle ID
ent ecr get-plugin-code Calculate and display the plugin code
ent ecr install Install a bundle in the ECR
ent ecr install --conflict-strategy=OVERRIDE Adopt a strategy for conflicts affecting installed bundles
ent ecr list Display the list of bundles associated with the current profile
ent ecr uninstall Uninstall a bundle

# Command Details

  • ent ecr get-bundle-id: The unique identifier assigned to each bundle provides a mechanism to customize parameters and add security controls for bundle-specific resources

  • ent ecr get-plugin-code:

    • Get the unique identifier for the bundle plugin
    • Docker-based bundles make use of the options [component-name] --repo=[repository-url]
    • Git-based bundles make use of the options --auto --repo=[repository-url]

  • ent ecr install --conflict-strategy=OVERRIDE: If a bundle project has already been installed, the --conflict-strategy flag forces a CREATE, SKIP or OVERRIDE strategy for components

# Git-based Bundle Commands

The following ent commands are used to manage git-based (< Entando 7.1) bundles.

Command Descriptions
ent bundler from-git Generate a CR from a Git repository for publication or exporting
ent bundler from-env Generate a CR from an existing environment for the current or selected location
ent prj be-log Fetch the logs for bundle plugins
ent prj be-test-run Initialize one or more microservices
ent prj build Build the project components
ent prj deploy Deploy the bundle into the ECR
ent prj ext-keycloak start Initialize Keycloak with Docker Compose
ent prj fe-test-run Initialize one or more frontend widgets, each from its own shell
ent prj get-bundle-id --auto Determine the bundle ID
ent prj get-plugin-code --auto [URL] Determine the plugin code of each microservice in the project
ent prj install Install the bundle into Entando
ent prj install --conflict-strategy=OVERRIDE Adopt a strategy for conflicts affecting installed bundles
ent prj pbs-init Initialize the bundle directory
ent prj pbs-publish Publish the artifacts to GitHub and Docker Hub

Note: ent prj commands are deprecated in favor of ent bundle commands.

# Command Details

  • ent prj get-bundle-id: The unique identifier assigned to each bundle provides a mechanism to customize parameters and add security controls for bundle-specific resources

  • ent prj get-plugin-code: Uniquely and safely identifies each bundle plugin and derived cloud-native resources

  • ent prj install --conflict-strategy=OVERRIDE: If a bundle project has already been installed, the --conflict-strategy flag forces a CREATE, SKIP or OVERRIDE strategy for components

  • ent bundler: Provides an interactive mode to identify components to export. Point the bundler to existing environments to extract components and static assets into a custom bundle. This bundle can be used to migrate from one Entando environment to another (e.g. Dev to QA) or as a framework for building a new application.

    • An env.json file to configure the application URLs and client credentials must be present in the directory from which the bundler is run. For example:
      {
   "coreBaseApi": "http://YOUR-DOMAIN-OR-IP/entando-de-app",
   "componentManagerApi": "http://YOUR-DOMAIN-OR-IP/digital-exchange",
   "clientId": "YOUR-CLIENT-ID",
   "clientSecret": "YOUR-CLIENT-SECRET"
}
      Instructions to export a bundle, including how to configure env.json, can be found in the Export and Publish a Bundle tutorial.
    • If an Unable to extract the application client secret error is thrown:
      1. Verify that the current profile namespace and application name are correct and match the output of the following command:
         ent status
      2. Assign the appropriate namespace and application name:
         ent appname YOUR-APPNAME
 ent namespace YOUR-NAMESPACE

Follow the Build and Publish a Bundle Project tutorial for more information about bundling a Docker-based project.

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