Patch Envelope

Patch Envelope is a feature of ZEDEDA Cloud that enables you to send data to an application instance without shutting it down. The data you send can be anything that is consumable by the receiving app instance, including configuration updates. Additionally, by attaching an envelope to a group of app instances, you can simultaneously update all of them.

Note, however, that only apps connected to local network instances can receive patch envelopes. This is because the receiving app instances must be exposed to a metadata server.

Note the following details about Patch Envelope:

• The size limit of an envelope is 5 MB.
• You may only attach an envelope to a single project.
• You may only attach a single envelope to an app instance. An envelope, may however, be attached to many app instances.

View existing patch envelopes

To see a list of existing patch envelopes in your enterprise:

1. Hover on Library on the left side nav.
2. Click on Patch Envelopes.

Creating a patch envelope

When you create an envelope, you will first be prompted to provide number of details. Then you'll be prompted to attach your data. Attached data is called an artifact.

A few notable fields in the Details section are described in the following table.

When you're prompted to provide the envelope's artifacts, you can add an artifact, choosing one of the following two categories: inline or external.

To attach inline data, you simply copy and paste it into the appropriate field. Your data must be in base64.

To attach external data, it must already be an artifact in a store, which will allow you to select it in your envelope's artifact definition. If you need to upload your data, refer to our guide on Data Stores.

Note that you may include both categories in the same envelope by attaching multiple artifacts.

Formatting

When you use the ZEDEDA GUI, you can provide your artifact data in any format. You only need to be sure that your data are in the appropriate format for the receiving app instance.

When you use the ZEDEDA ZCLI or API, you'll also need to be sure that your envelopes are properly formatted in your requests. Refer to our API documentation for a JSON example of a patch envelope.

Create a new envelope

1. From the Patch Envelope page, click on the plus icon.
2. Fill in the Identity section.
3. Fill in the Artifacts section.
   • Use the plus icon to add multiple artifacts.
4. When you are finished adding artifacts, click Add.

Prepare your data as an inline artifact

1. Save your data to a file. This procedure refers to your file as envelope_data.txt
2. Open your terminal.
3. Encode the contents of envelope_data.txt to base64 with the following command.

   cat envelope_data.txt | base64

4. Copy the output of the previous command. This is what you need to provide when you create your inline artifact in the ZEDEDA GUI.
   

View an app instance’s patch envelope

1. Click on Edge App Instances on the left side nav.
2. Click on the edge app you want to check.
3. Click on the instance's Basic Info tab.
4. Observe the Patch Envelope field in the Details section.

Attach or detach an envelope

1. Click on Edge App Instances on the left side nav.
2. Click on the app instance that you want to attach an envelope to.
3. Click on More Actions meatball icon.
4. Click Attach or Detach Patch Envelope.
5. Follow the prompts to complete the attachment or detachment.