ActiveDebianSync Service

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ActiveDebianSync is a complete solution for synchronizing and distributing Debian/Ubuntu repositories, designed for demanding enterprises and system administrators.

Smart synchronization

• Multiple mirrors with automatic failover — Seamless switch to backup mirrors in case of an outage
• Parallel downloads — Maximize throughput with configurable simultaneous downloads
• Automatic resume — Interrupted transfers continue exactly where they stopped
• Integrity validation — SHA256/SHA512 verification of every downloaded file

Integrated APT server

• HTTP & HTTPS — Serve your local repository securely
• Native GPG signing — Automatically sign your Release files
• Custom package management — Add your own .deb files via CLI or REST API
• Sync locking — Prevent inconsistencies by blocking clients during synchronization

Full observability

• REST API — Monitoring, statistics, and remote control
• Advanced analytics — Top packages, bandwidth per hour/day, anomaly detection
• Disk-space prediction — Anticipate future storage requirements
• Client tracking — See who downloads what and when
• Storage optimization
• Deduplication — Save space with automatic hard-linking
• Scheduled cleanup — Automatically remove outdated versions
• Smart tiering — Move rarely used files to secondary storage
• Configurable space limits — Automatic stop before disk saturation

Production-ready

• Systemd-ready — Daemon service with proper signal handling
• User switching — Run with minimal privileges
• Sync time windows — Synchronize only during off-peak hours
• Bandwidth limiting — Never overload your network connection

Installation

• Standalone installation
  ActiveDebianSync is integrated into Artica, but you can also run it directly on your own servers via command line and REST API, without having to install Artica first.
• Sources.list
  Examples of sources.list that can be used on your Debian/Ubuntu clients 

Configuration 

• Standalone basic setup
  The initial configuration is performed using a JSON file.
   
• Translation files (i18n)
  Translation files (i18n) containq package descriptions in different languages. 
  These are optional but apt tries to download them and generates an error
   
• Ubuntu support
  Mirroring Ubuntu distributions alongside Debian repositories
   
• Archived distributions
  If you still have older Debian/Ubuntu distributions, use this method to mirror releases that are no longer supported.
   
• Debian Installer Support
  Synchronizing debian-installer components required for building custom installation media, PXE boot environments,
   and tools like build-simple-cdd
   
• Cluster replication
  Mesh (any-to-any) cluster replication, allowing multiple nodes to synchronize repository
  • Cluster OAuth
    OAuth 2.0 authentication for cluster replication
     
• Insert your own package using command-line
  ActiveDebianSync lets you add your own custom Debian packages to the mirrored repository
   
• Insert your own package using API
  ActiveDebianSync lets you add your own custom Debian packages to the mirrored repository
   
• Setup the web console.
  You can install a simple web console to view logs and status of the repository
  • Web Console OAuth Authentication
    Configure OAuth 2.0 authentication on the Web console
     
• Reverse Proxy Support for Web Console
  Want to publish the ActiveDebianSync behind Nginx

Security

• Security guide
  How to securely configure ActiveDebianSync by running it under a dedicated Unix user.
   
• Access Control
  Restrict HTTP/HTTPS access by IP address, CIDR range, and User-Agent string. 
  You can also apply bandwidth limits per rule
   
• GPG Signing and Repository Security
  Comprehensive GPG (GNU Privacy Guard) signing capabilities.
  This ensure the integrity and authenticity of your Debian repository
   
• CVE Scanner
  Built-in CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) scanner that analyzes packages in your local Debian mirror against 
  the official Debian Security Tracker database,  nvd.nist.gov and osv.dev

Monitoring

• Monitoring via API REST
  All commands to monitor or manage the daemon
   
• Query the history via API
  When a new package is downloaded, its history is stored in a SQLite database. 
  You can search and query this history at any time.
   
• Search packages via API
  ActiveDebianSync includes a powerful package search feature similar to apt-file, allowing you to search for packages by name, description, or files they contain.
   
• Integration with monitoring tools
  How to monitor with Zabbix, Prometheus, Nagios/Icinga
   
• Active Clients is still 0 — Why?
  Seeing “Active Clients: 0” on the dashboard is normal. 
  This value only shows clients that are active in real time, not simply “connected” clients.
  To view all registered clients, go to the Clients section in the left menu.