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Added a blog post about checkpoint
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‎docs/sections/blog/posts/2025/checkpoint.md‎

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---
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date: 2025-03-11T08:30:00+00:00
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title: Checkpoint Support - A Journey Towards Predictable and Consistent Deployments
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author: Moustafa Moustafa
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tags:
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- announcement
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---
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In the ever-evolving landscape of software development, ensuring predictability and consistency in
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deployments has always been a challenge.
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Our team faced similar hurdles, especially when managing historical versions of repositories.
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We needed a solution that could help us recreate environments from specific points in time, ensure
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reproducible deployments, and track changes in package behavior over time.
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Inspired by the success stories of [Ubuntu Snapshots on Azure](https://ubuntu.com/blog/ubuntu-snapshots-on-azure-ensuring-predictability-and-consistency-in-cloud-deployments) and the
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[increased security and resiliency of Canonical workloads on Azure](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/linuxandopensourceblog/increased-security-and-resiliency-of-canonical-workloads-on-azure---now-in-previ/3970623), we
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embarked on a journey to develop a feature that could address these challenges.
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## The Problem
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Imagine working on a project where you need to ensure that your deployment environment is consistent
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with a specific point in time.
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This is crucial for debugging, testing, and even for compliance purposes. However, without a robust
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system in place, managing and accessing historical versions of repositories can be a daunting task.
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## The Solution: Checkpoint
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After weeks of brainstorming, development, and testing, we are thrilled to announce the release of
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the Checkpoint feature in Pulp!
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Think of it as similar to [snapshot.debian.org](https://snapshot.debian.org/) or [snapshot.ubuntu.com](https://snapshot.ubuntu.com/).
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This new addition allows you to manage and access historical versions of repositories, enhancing
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your content management capabilities.
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**This feature is available as a tech-preview starting from Pulp version 3.74.0.**
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## Key Benefits
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* **Historical Version Management:** Easily recreate environments from specific points in time.
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This is particularly useful for debugging and compliance purposes.
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* **Reproducible Deployments:** Ensure consistent replication of validated environments.
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This means that you can deploy the same environment multiple times with the same results.
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* **Structured Update Workflow:** Track changes in package behavior over time.
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This helps in understanding how updates affect your environment and in planning future updates.
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## How It Works
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The Checkpoint feature integrates seamlessly with Pulp, allowing you to create and manage
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checkpoints for your repositories.
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These checkpoints act as snapshots, capturing the state of your repository at a specific point in time.
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You can then use these checkpoints to recreate environments, ensuring that they are consistent with
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the state of the repository at the time the checkpoint was created.
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For more details on how plugins can enable the checkpoint feature, check out [this guide](https://pulpproject.org/pulpcore/docs/dev/learn/subclassing/checkpoint/).
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For repo admins looking to manage checkpoints for their repos, [this guide](https://pulpproject.org/pulpcore/docs/user/guides/checkpoint/) provides all the necessary steps.
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## Example Usage with Pulp CLI
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Here's a step-by-step example of how to use the checkpoint feature with the pulp CLI.
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### Setting Up the Repository, Remote, and Distributions
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First, set up the repository, remote, and distributions:
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```shell
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pulp file remote create --url https://fixtures.pulpproject.org/file/PULP_MANIFEST --name myfile
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pulp file repository create --name myfile --remote myfile
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pulp file distribution create --name myfile --repository myfile --base-path myfile # regular distro
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pulp file distribution create --checkpoint --name myfile-snapshot --repository myfile --base-path checkpoints/myfile # checkpoint distro
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```
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### Creating an Empty Publication for Testing
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Next, create an empty publication for testing purposes:
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```shell
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pulp file publication create --checkpoint --repository myfile # use "--checkpoint" to create the publication
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http ${CONTENT_ADDR}/pulp/content/checkpoints/myfile/ # one checkpoint
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HTTP/1.1 200 OK
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Content-Length: 296
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Content-Type: text/html
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Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2025 14:04:11 GMT
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Server: Python/3.10 aiohttp/3.8.1
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X-PULP-CACHE: MISS
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<html>
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<head><title>Index of </title></head>
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<body bgcolor="white">
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<h1>Index of </h1>
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<hr><pre><a href="../">../</a>
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<a href="20250318T140338Z/">20250318T140338Z/</a> 18-Mar-2025 14:03
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</pre><hr></body>
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</html>
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```
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### Syncing the Repository and Creating Another Checkpoint Publication
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Sync the repository and create another checkpoint publication:
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```shell
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pulp file repository sync --name myfile
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pulp file publication create --checkpoint --repository myfile
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http ${CONTENT_ADDR}/pulp/content/checkpoints/myfile/
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HTTP/1.1 200 OK
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Content-Length: 448
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Content-Type: text/html
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Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2025 14:05:04 GMT
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Server: Python/3.10 aiohttp/3.8.1
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X-PULP-CACHE: MISS
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<html>
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<head><title>Index of </title></head>
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<body bgcolor="white">
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<h1>Index of </h1>
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<hr><pre><a href="../">../</a>
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<a href="20250318T140338Z/">20250318T140338Z/</a> 18-Mar-2025 14:03
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<a href="20250318T140442Z/">20250318T140442Z/</a> 18-Mar-2025 14:04
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</pre><hr></body>
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</html>
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http ${CONTENT_ADDR}/pulp/content/checkpoints/myfile/20250318T140442Z/
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HTTP/1.1 200 OK
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Content-Length: 835
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Content-Type: text/html
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Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2025 14:06:31 GMT
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Server: Python/3.10 aiohttp/3.8.1
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X-PULP-CACHE: MISS
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<html>
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<head><title>Index of /pulp/content/checkpoints/myfile/20250318T140442Z/</title></head>
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<body bgcolor="white">
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<h1>Index of /pulp/content/checkpoints/myfile/20250318T140442Z/</h1>
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<hr><pre><a href="../">../</a>
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<a href="1.iso">1.iso</a> 18-Mar-2025 14:04 1.0 kB
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<a href="2.iso">2.iso</a> 18-Mar-2025 14:04 1.0 kB
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<a href="3.iso">3.iso</a> 18-Mar-2025 14:04 1.0 kB
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<a href="PULP_MANIFEST">PULP_MANIFEST</a> 18-Mar-2025 14:04 228 Bytes
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</pre><hr></body>
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</html>
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```
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### Testing the Redirect
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Finally, test the redirect by attempting to access a timestamp for which no checkpoint exists. The system will automatically redirect you to the nearest checkpoint created at or before the specified timestamp in the URL.
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```shell
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$ http ${CONTENT_ADDR}/pulp/content/checkpoints/myfile/20250318T140340Z/
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HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
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Content-Length: 22
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Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
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Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2025 14:09:19 GMT
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Location: /pulp/content/checkpoints/myfile/20250318T140338Z/
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Server: Python/3.10 aiohttp/3.8.1
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301: Moved Permanently
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```
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## Moving Towards SDP
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The introduction of the Checkpoint feature is a significant step towards achieving Safe Deployment
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Practices (SDP).
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By ensuring that deployments are predictable and consistent, we can reduce the risk of errors and
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improve the overall quality of our software.
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We are excited about the possibilities that the Checkpoint feature brings and look forward to seeing
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how it helps you in your projects.
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Happy coding!

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