The Univention App Center will be conceptually reworked and enhanced to manage apps for the whole UCS domain environment and not just for each single system separately. In this post, I’d like to share some details about the upcoming new Univention Corporate Server (UCS) 4.0 version.
The Univention App Center as a Central Cockpit
The Univention App Center is the central place in the web-based UCS management system where domain administrators can find a large portfolio of business applications to install, update and buy. Up to UCS 3.2, these tasks had to be executed for each UCS system in the domain requiring quite a number of single steps for environments with numerous UCS systems. With UCS 4.0, the Univention App Center turns into a cockpit where app handling is done centrally at one point for the whole domain environment, reducing efforts and enhancing administrative comfort. Furthermore, it benefits from the numerous improvements in usability and design implemented with the new UCS management system.
Restructuring of the App Center’s Overview
First of all, the overview of apps in the Univention App Center has been restructured. Installed business applications are grouped together. The app categories known from UCS 3.2 remain the same. At first glance, domain administrators know which apps are available, which apps are already installed and which apps have updates available.
The Univention App Center’s Guidance System
Already installed apps show on their product page on which UCS systems they are already installed. New apps can be easily installed with a few clicks. In UCS domains with more than one UCS system, a wizard will ask on which server the new app shall be installed.
The most important benefit is the centralization, which reduces the administration efforts. It doesn’t matter on which UCS system the domain administrator opens the Univention App Center frontend because it always shows the same consistent information.
If you are interested in having a look at a preview of UCS 4.0, get yourself a copy. We are very grateful for any kind of feedback, either here in a comment or in our forum.
