Using remote policies

If you need to direct MCS to retrieve variants from a remote repository, you do not use policy names. Rather you specify a URL to identify the remote policy. The remote policy server, which is a custom application, responds to the request by returning the information in a predefined XML format.

If you need to direct MCS to retrieve variants from a remote repository, you do not use policy names. Rather you specify a URL to identify the remote policy. The remote policy server, which is a custom application, responds to the request by returning the information in a predefined XML format.

The exact structure of the remote policy URL depends on the operation of the remote policy server. For example, it could be the path to a policy file, or it might be a unique identifier that is resolved by the server. Your system administrator will have details of the correct syntax to use.

The remote policies may be stored in any form that enables the remote policy server to retrieve and serve them, such as an XML file or files, or a database.

One method of maintaining policies for a remote repository is to create them in the Mobile Portal Toolkit workbench, and copy them to the remote repository when required.

The remote policy process

MCS requests policy values over HTTP, using headers from the original device request, with additional information about the policy type, the response type and the device name.

The remote server must respond using an XML syntax. The XML schema provides for single policy responses, or sets of responses that may be used to preload the remote policy caches. Refer to Encoding remote policy responses for further information.

You can use an API to preload or flush the remote policy caches. Refer to Managing the remote cache for more information.

Details of how to configure the MCS repository caches for use with remote policy responses are given in Configuring remote policy caches.

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