Chapter 7. Using the dynamic plugins cache
The dynamic plugins cache in Red Hat Developer Hub (RHDH) enhances the installation process and reduces platform boot time by storing previously installed plugins. If the configuration remains unchanged, this feature prevents the need to re-download plugins on subsequent boots.
When you enable dynamic plugins cache:
-
The system calculates a checksum of each plugin’s YAML configuration (excluding
pluginConfig). -
The checksum is stored in a file named
dynamic-plugin-config.hashwithin the plugin’s directory. - During boot, if a plugin’s package reference matches the previous installation and the checksum is unchanged, the download is skipped.
- Plugins that are disabled since the previous boot are automatically removed.
7.1. Enabling the dynamic plugins cache
To enable the dynamic plugins cache in RHDH, the plugins directory dynamic-plugins-root must be a persistent volume.
For Helm chart installations, a persistent volume named dynamic-plugins-root is automatically created.
For operator-based installations, you must manually create the PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) as follows:
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
name: dynamic-plugins-root
spec:
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
resources:
requests:
storage: 5Gi
---
apiVersion: rhdh.redhat.com/v1alpha2
kind: Backstage
metadata:
name: developer-hub
spec:
deployment:
patch:
spec:
template:
spec:
volumes:
- $patch: replace
name: dynamic-plugins-root
persistentVolumeClaim:
claimName: dynamic-plugins-rootFuture versions of the RHDH operator are planned to automatically create the PVC.
7.2. Configuring the dynamic plugins cache
You can set the following optional dynamic plugin cache parameters:
forceDownload: Set totrueto force a reinstall of the plugin, bypassing the cache. Default isfalse. For example, modify yourdynamic-plugins.yamlfile as follows:plugins: - disabled: false forceDownload: true package: 'oci://quay.io/example-org/example-plugin:v1.0.0!internal-backstage-plugin-example'
