Federated Repositories

The federated repositories pattern builds off of the Bi-Directional Proxying pattern. As with bi-directional proxying, the geographically separated teams may only share portions of what they create (e.g., perhaps they don't share their Maven components but only the finished wars/Docker containers).

The example above comprises three separate teams in three separate regions. There is bi-directional proxying between regions A and B; regions A and C; and regions B and C. To zoom in and see what bi-directional proxying looks like between each of these regions, see the Bi-Directional Proxying pattern.

This pattern allows for teams in different regions to proxy content from another region on-demand.

Combines With

This pattern extends the Bi-Directional Proxying pattern

Problems Addressed

• Bi-directional distribution for geographically separated teams
• Some content is used only within one region, some is distributed

Prerequisites

• High-bandwidth, low-latency network connection between sites

Factors to Consider

• Must maintain corresponding repository structures between sites
• Configuration can be complex with many sites and formats
• Can increase network traffic and latency
• Consider resiliency and recovery separately for each region
• Must manage cleanup independently by region; this can add complexity
• Must manage user tokens and access controls independently by region

Available Resources

The following help topics may be helpful when implementing this pattern:

• Scaling with Proxy Nodes
• Repository Management