View source for Hosts.xml

'''hosts.xml''' is a file which defines the hosts and associated profiles, which these hosts will use.

This file has to be placed in the same directory as [[wpkg.js]]. Alternatively it may be stored in a subdirectory named hosts with an individual filename e.g. room1.xml, room2.xml.

[http://wpkg.org WPKG] will not work without this file.

Profiles are defined in [[profiles.xml]] file, and they describe software packages, which will be installed on hosts.


==hosts.xml structure==

The structure of '''hosts.xml''' is as follows:

<blockquote style="background: white; border: 1px solid black; padding: 1em;">

<wpkg><br><br>
<host name="'''host1'''" profile-id="'''custom1'''" /><br>
<host name="'''host2'''" profile-id="'''custom2'''" /><br><br>
</wpkg><br>

</blockquote>

Which means, that a hostname with a name ''host1'' will use a profile ''custom1'', and a hostname with a name ''host2'' will use a profile ''custom2''.

If you have more hosts, or want to group them, it would be unwise to edit dozens of host entries just to attach them all to one or two profiles.
That's why you can use  [http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ae5bf541(vs.71).aspx Regular Expression Syntax].

==Quick examples==

Below is a quick explanation on the usage of regular expression within the '''hosts.xml''' file.

<blockquote style="background: white; border: 1px solid black; padding: 1em;">
<host name="'''b[0-9] '''" profile-id="'''profile'''" />
</blockquote>

works for:              b1, b10, b100<br>
does not work for:      bubu, b, x, x1, x10, x100


<blockquote style="background: white; border: 1px solid black; padding: 1em;">
<host name="'''b.+'''" profile-id="'''profile1'''" />
</blockquote>

works for "b10", "b12345", "bubu" etc.


<blockquote style="background: white; border: 1px solid black; padding: 1em;">
<host name="'''.+'''" profile-id="'''profile'''" />
</blockquote>

works for *all* hosts - use with care (!), place at the bottom of '''hosts.xml''' (see below why '''.+''' regular expression match should be placed at the end of the '''hosts.xml''' file).


<blockquote style="background: white; border: 1px solid black; padding: 1em;">
<host name="'''b.+'''" profile-id="'''profile2'''" /><br>
<host name="'''bronek1'''" profile-id="'''profile1'''" /><br>
<host name="'''bron.+'''" profile-id="'''profile3'''" /><br>
</blockquote>

Normally, hosts are parsed from top to the bottom, except when the hostname is not a regular expression.
So the host '''bronek1''' will match '''profile1''', even though it also matches '''b.+''' and '''bron.+''' (which are regular expressions).

==Several profiles for one host==

It's possible to assign more than one profile to a host:

<blockquote style="background: white; border: 1px solid black; padding: 1em;">
<host name="'''host1'''" ><br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;<profile id="'''addons1'''"/><br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;<profile id="'''addons2'''"/><br>
</host><br>
</blockquote>

Remarks: 
* You cannot omit the main profile (profile-id=...)
* You can only assign a profile, but no packages
* host.domain will match ANY machine of that domain!!!

==See also==
* [[profiles.xml]] - defines the profiles.
* [[packages.xml]] - defines the list of packages.
* [[wpkg.js]] - WPKG engine.

[[category:Documentation]]
[[category:Installation]]
[[category:Config_Files]]