Anka Build Terminology – Components to setup on-premise iOS CI infrastructure

Anka Build is macOS native virtualization platform from Veertu. It’s a complete platform to implement and manage macOS VMs on a large scale for iOS CI. Anka Build includes lightweight Anka client, which is the native hypervisor to run macOS VMs on Mac hardware, the Controller, which is used to on-demand provision and manage macOS VMs and the Registry, which is used to store and distribute macOS VM templates for CI.

While Anka Build manages macOS VMs on a large scale for CI, all Anka Build modules by themselves are very lightweight, easy to deploy and manage.

iOS Ci with Anka Build

Anka Client

Anka client is a very lightweight mac application. Unlike, other server virtualization solutions for mac hardware, Anka Build doesn’t strip away the core macOS. Anka Build runs as another mac application on the mac hardware and enables the creation and running of macOS VMs. Anka Build macOS VMs are very responsive and perform at near native speed. These Anka VMs are used as on-demand build and test environments for iOS/macOS CI.

Anka Controller

Anka Controller module is packaged as a docker container. The Controller provides a single interface through its REST APIs to on-demand provision macOS VMs, requested by CI jobs. Think of it as central management for your Anka Build Cloud.

Anka Registry

Anka Registry module is used to store and distribute different versions of macOS VMs. Anka Registry is also packaged in a Docker container. A iOS/macOS CI job can request X quantity of N type of macOS VM. When Controller receives this request, it pulls N macOS VM (version tag) from the registry and spins up X quantity of these VMs using Anka Client on your Anka nodes. Anka Controller also maintains a queue of all incoming requests from the CI system and manages them.

Anka Node

Anka node is one or many Mac hardware on which you want to run your iOS CI jobs. You install Anka Build client on each of your Anka Build Nodes and then connect the nodes to the Anka Controller.

Connecting Anka Build to your CI system

While Anka Build platform consists of multiple modules, you only need to integrate your CI system to Anka Build Controller in order to start using Anka Build for executing iOS CI jobs. Anka Build Controller exposes REST APIs, through which you can integrate your existing CI system.

For Jenkins based CI implementation, there is a Jenkins plugin available, which can be used to very easily set up integration with Anka Build iOS cloud infrastructure.

Share this post

networking-performancev1
Unlocking Superior macOS VM Network Performance: Introducing Anka's new networking mode for Apple Silicon
Large and complex enterprises using Anka have many different demands, and we have worked to continue to develop innovative technology to meet these demands. Enterprise infrastructure hardware is often on the cutting edge, and they need advanced capabilities...
Read More
gitlab-with-anka
Anka Cloud Gitlab Executor
Veertu’s Anka and the new Anka Cloud Gitlab Executor Veertu’s Anka is a suite of software tools built on the macOS virtualization platform. It enables the execution of single or multi-use macOS virtual machines (VMs) in a manner similar to Docker....
Read More
mac-scan-v1
Real-Time CVE Scanning of your macOS Build Systems
It’s common that an organization’s macOS build system will download thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of third-party dependencies every hour. When building and testing iOS applications, it typically downloads and installs third-party...
Read More
anka-on-silicon-v1
The ONLY Fully Automated Apple Silicon macOS VM Creation Solution
Starting in Anka 3.1 we announced that Anka is now able to fully automate the macOS installation processes, disabling SIP, and enabling VNC — all previously manual steps users had to perform inside o the VM. At the time of writing this article,...
Read More
anka_click
Scripting macOS UI User Actions With Anka Click
Starting in Anka 3.2, we’ve introduced a solution for scripting macOS UI user actions. You may ask, “Why would I want to do that?”. Well, often macOS configuration and applications do not have a CLI allowing you to perform certain actions...
Read More
mac-scan-fullscan-shells-v3
Real-time, continuous scan of file downloads on macOS for security vulnerabilities
Today, we are announcing the Beta availability of the Mac Scan solution. Mac Scan software runs on macOS systems (bare metal, virtual, EC2 Mac) and scans downloads in real time for security vulnerabilities. There are multiple scenarios why you would...
Read More
Screen Shot 2022-10-17 at 10.13
Anka 3.1- Fully automated VM macOS installation & The Behavior-Driven macOS UI Automation Framework
We are very happy to announce the General Availability of Anka 3.1 for Apple Silicon / ARM macs. In this release, we are taking our approach to iOS CI automation one step further by introducing a Behavior-Driven macOS UI Automation Framework in Anka,...
Read More
ankam1v2
Migrating from Anka on Intel to Anka on M1 Mac for iOS CI
In this blog, we will cover the key topics for migrating from Anka on Intel to Anka on M1/M2 Macs. Anka is an IaaC solution from Veertu to set up an agile Container like CI for iOS CI using macOS VMs. Anka for Intel uses Apple’s Hypervisor.Framework virtualization...
Read More
ami-scanner-featured-v2
World's first Security Vulnerability scanner for EC2 Mac AMIs
We are excited to announce the General Availability of the world’s first security vulnerability scanner for EC2 Mac AMIs. EC2 Mac AMI Scan scans Intel and Apple Silicon macOS EC2 AMIs, detects security vulnerabilities in third-party packages, dependencies,...
Read More
esxi-to-anka
It's time to migrate your iOS CI from ESXi Virtual Mac Infrastructure to native macOS Virtualization
When VMWare ESXi started officially supporting Apple macOS Virtualization on Mac hardware in late 2012, it opened the doors for the possibility of iOS development to move to a Linux-like, agile, scalable CI infrastructure. Soon enough, many iOS enterprise...
Read More