A helper, local names and a trusted certificate authority.
AIDE writes outside your project, so it is worth knowing what it changes.
| What | When |
|---|---|
| A small helper that your account can run with administrator rights without a password | Once, during aide setup; review it with your environment owner on a shared machine |
| The tools a cluster needs, installed once per host | aide setup |
| Local name entries for your project domain, so your machine resolves the hostnames | Cluster commands |
| The project certificate authority, added to your system trust (and to browser trust where available) | Cluster commands |
| Cluster records and the default cluster, kept in your MAIT settings folder | Cluster commands |
| Your MAIT credentials, kept in your MAIT settings folder | aide login |
AIDE installs the DNS package but does not configure or start a name forwarder on an arbitrary host; you need one set up as described in Install. Protect the credentials file and any certificate authority key you keep. cluster delete removes the cluster's name and trust entries again.
The hostname stays the same; only where it leads changes.
aide route set-external makes a Service in the cluster lead to a dev server on your machine, so the hostname and certificate need no change and your browser keeps using the same address.
set-external checks that it can connect before it switches. With no --host, AIDE tries a local address of your machine; the dev server must listen on all addresses (0.0.0.0) to be reached. set-internal puts the cluster's own pods back. route status tests the connection to each route you switched, with a three-second timeout.
Names under your domain, one certificate authority you control.
The cluster gets a certificate for your base domain and its one-label subdomains, issued from the project certificate authority. Cluster commands set up local name resolution for your domain and add the authority to the system trust. cluster status shows those indicators.
A generated authority is recreated on every start, which is why keeping a retained pair is the setting for repeated starts. A successful create or a green indicator does not prove a hostname resolves or the certificate is trusted; resolve and request the hostname yourself.
Features checked locally, contact with MAIT services kept small.
The cluster, route and prompt commands need credentials that include the cluster feature. They check the credentials locally, so they keep working offline until renewal is due. A signed-in account without the feature receives an activation link; signing in again does not add it.
AIDE contacts MAIT services for sign-in, credential renewal near expiry, the aide doctor connectivity checks and update checks. An update check runs in the background at most once per interval and never changes your installation; aide update checks on demand. You can lengthen the interval with AIDE_UPDATE_COOLDOWN (see Customize). Tool, image and chart downloads contact their usual sources.