End-customer view of Distr

As an end customer, you will be given access to a Customer Portal by the software vendor. The portal you will have access to two key features:

• The artifact registry for downloading software distributed by your vendor
• The deployment section for managing applications with Distr agents. Depending on your use case, you might use only one or both of these features.

This guide walks you through using both of the features.

Registry quickstart from the customer portal

A typical onboarding journey looks like this:

1. Access the Customer Portal Dashboard

Here you will view release notes and vendor-specific software information in your dashboard.

2. View Available Artifacts

Browse the artifacts your vendor has made available to you in the artifacts section:

In this example, the vendor made to a single artifact called hello-world available to the end-customer.

3. Explore Artifact Details

Click on the artifact name to see details like available versions, creation date, and a download counter:

4. Authenticate with a Personal Access Token

Generate a Personal Access Token (PAT) in your Distr account and use it to log in:

echo "YOUR-ACCESS-TOKEN" | docker login registry.distr.sh:8585 --password-stdin -u -

5. Pull Vendor Artifacts

Once authenticated, you can pull the artifacts using Docker, ORAS or Helm for example:

Tip

You will find the exact commands in the Customer Portal.

docker pull registry.distr.sh/slug/hello-world:1.0.0
oras pull registry.distr.sh/slug/vendor-artifact:1.0.0
helm pull registry.distr.sh/slug/vendor-helm-chart:1.0.0

6. Deploy the Artifacts

Refer to the deployment instructions in your Customer Portal dashboard or coordinate directly with your vendor for specific deployment guidance.

Deployment Agent quickstart from the customer portal

1. Create a New Agent

Navigate to the Deployments section and create a new agent. Distr agents are lightweight agent components deployed in your target environment (one per Docker Host or Kubernetes namespace) and can manage multiple deployed applications.

Tip

Choose the Docker Compose agent for VM or non-Kubernetes environments, or the Helm agent for Kubernetes clusters. Your software vendor can advise on the best option for your use case.

2. Name Your Agent

Provide a descriptive name, optionally including environment or customer identifiers.

3. Configure Namespace (Helm only)

If deploying the Helm agent, specify the existing Kubernetes namespace where it will be installed.

4. Install the Agent

Run the provided installation command in your target environment:

Tip

You will find the exact commands in the Customer Portal.

Docker

curl 'https://app.distr.sh/api/v1/connect?targetId=...&targetSecret=...' | docker compose -f - up -d

Helm

kubectl apply -n ... -f 'https://demo.distr.sh/api/v1/connect?targetId=...&targetSecret=...'

Once running, the agent gains access to the definition files configured by the vendor on the Distr platform. It is responsible for deploying the application, fetching updates, and reporting health metrics to both the customer and vendor portals.

5. Configure Your Deployment

Select an application and version from the Deploy panel.

Customize the configuration file provided by the vendor to fit your environment.

6. Deploy the Application

Once configured, you’re ready to deploy.

7. Monitor Deployment Status

View real-time updates as your deployment initializes.

8. Access Environment Logs

Click on the status button to view application logs directly from the portal.

9. Update Deployments

Modify configuration values and update running deployments as needed.

10. Important Notes

• A single agent can manage multiple deployments in the same target environment
• To remove a deployment, first undeploy it before deletion