fleet/docs/Contributing/architecture/software/software-installation.md

Software installation architecture

This document provides an overview of Fleet's software installation architecture.

Introduction

Software installation in Fleet enables the deployment and installation of software packages across the device fleet. This document provides insights into the design decisions, system components, and interactions specific to the Software Installation functionality.

Important concepts

Software types

Fleet supports 3 different types of installable software: custom packages, Fleet-maintained apps, and app store apps.

Custom packages

Custom packages are software packages whose installer is uploaded directly to Fleet by an admin.

Fleet supports the following installer files as custom packages

Installer file extension	Supported platform(s)
.pkg	macOS
.ipa	iOS, iPadOS
.msi	Windows
.exe	Windows
.deb	Debian-based Linux
.rpm	RHEL-based Linux

Fleet-maintained apps

Fleet-maintained apps are software that Fleet curates. Fleet sources installers and generates install and uninstall scripts for Fleet-maintained apps, so that admins can add them to their software library with just a few clicks.

App store apps

App store apps are software that is installed directly from an external app store. Fleet currently supports the Apple App Store (via VPP apps (for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS hosts)) and the Google Play Store (for Android hosts).

Architecture diagrams

Installation flows

VPP app install and verification

VPP apps are installed using the Apple MDM protocol. When an install is triggered, Fleet sends an InstallApplication command to the host.

To verify that the install was successful, Fleet sends a series of InstalledApplicationList MDM commands after the acknowledgment of the InstallApplication command. Fleet attempts to verify until either

• the app shows up in the InstalledApplicationList response as installed, or
• the verification timeout (defaults to 10m, configurable via the FLEET_SERVER_VPP_VERIFY_TIMEOUT env var).

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
        Note over Fleet,Host: Installation
        Fleet->>+Host: InstallApplicationCommand
        Host-->>-Fleet: Acknowledged

        Note over Fleet,Host: Verification
    
        Fleet->>+Fleet: Start timeout
    
        loop Verification loop
            Fleet->>+Host: InstalledApplicationListCommand
            Host-->>-Fleet: Acknowledged<br/>[list of apps]
            critical Check app status
            option app in list, installed, exit:
                Fleet->>+Fleet: Move status to "Installed"
            option app not in list, timeout:
                Fleet->>+Fleet: Move status to "Failed"
        end
    end

Orbit implementation of installer-based (custom packages, FMA) software install

graph TD
    subgraph "Orbit software installation flow"
        direction TB
        A_Start((Start)) -->  B{"Check if install requested<br/>(Orbit config receiver)"};
        B -- 30s --> B
        B -- Yes --> C[GET installer details];
        C --> Err1[error/timeout: retry];
        Err1 --> A_Start;
        C --> D["Create temp dir (os.MkdirTemp)"];
        D --> E{CDN configured?}
        E -- Yes --> F[Download installer<br/>from CDN to temp dir]
        E -- No --> G[Download from Fleet]
        G --> Err3{Err?}
        Err3 -- Yes --> K
        Err3 -- No --> H
        F --> Err2{Err?}
        Err2 -- Yes --> G
        Err2 -- No --> H[Write install script to temp dir]
        H --> I["Run install script <br/> (timeout 1h)"]
        I --> J{Failure?}
        J -- Yes --> K[Delete temp dir]
        K --> L["POST script result <br/> (5 retries w/ backoff)"]
        J -- No --> M{Post-install<br/>script exists?}
        M -- Yes --> N[Write post-install<br/>script to temp dir]
        N --> O["Run post-install<br/>script (timeout 1hr)"]
        O --> P{Failure?}
        P -- Yes --> Q[Write uninstall script to temp dir]
        Q --> R["Run uninstall script<br/>(timeout 1hr)"]
        R --> K
        P -- No --> K
        M -- No --> K
    end

In-house (.ipa) app install and verification

In-house apps are installed using the Apple MDM protocol similar to VPP apps.

• Fleet first sends an InstallApplication command with a ManifestURL key, which contains the Fleet :title_id/in_house_app/manifest endpoint, instead of an iTunesStoreID key.
• The host sends a request to that endpoint to get the manifest, which contains metadata and a download URL which is the :title_id/in_house_app endpoint.
• Fleet optionally cloudfront signs the download URL.
• The in-house app gets verified the same way as VPP installs, using InstalledApplicationList.

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
        Note over Fleet,Host: Installation
        Fleet->>+Host: InstallApplication Command
        Host->>+Fleet: Get manifest
        Fleet-->>-Host: App manifest
        Host->>+Fleet: Get .ipa file
        Fleet-->>-Host: Send .ipa file
        Host->>-Host: Install app

        Note over Fleet,Host: Verification

        Fleet->>Fleet: Start timeout

        loop Verification loop
            Fleet->>+Host: InstalledApplicationListCommand
            Host-->>-Fleet: Acknowledged<br/>[list of apps]
            critical Check app status
            option app in list, installed, exit:
                Fleet->>+Fleet: Move status to "Installed"
            option app not in list, timeout:
                Fleet->>+Fleet: Move status to "Failed"
        end
    end

Android app install

Android app installation works a bit differently than on other platforms. Fleet uses the Google Android Management API (AMAPI) which sends one declarative "policy" to devices. When an Android app is added to a fleet, a job gets triggered to add this app to the policy on relevant hosts with the InstallType set to "AVAILABLE". For each host, this job will send a request to enterprises.policies.modifyPolicyApplications which will make the app available for download in the Play Store for that host, and record its result in the database.

Setup experience: currently, setup experience will add all relevant apps to a host's policy, but with InstallType set to "PREINSTALLED" which will automatically install the app on the device.

Related resources

• Software product group documentation - Documentation for the Software product group