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vf

vf is the command line Endeavor Engineering (EEI) uses to operate VirtualForge. It is how we set up a customer's account and what they are entitled to, issue the licenses that EEI products verify, retrieve the releases an account may install, keep track of where connectors are deployed, and stand up and maintain the ForgeVault databases behind data services.

You do not need it, and it is not installed at your site. vf runs on EEI's own systems, used by EEI staff. What you see of it is its output: a license file for your host, or a release you are entitled to. This page explains what it is and where it fits, for anyone asking how VirtualForge is run. It is not a guide to using it.

Where it fits

VirtualForge has a few ways in, each for a different kind of work. Two of them are command lines, and they are easy to mix up because their names are similar:

Who uses it Where it runs What it is for
ForgeIQ You In your browser Signing in, your organization, your entitlements and licenses, configuring what you own
vf (this page) EEI EEI's systems Operating the platform: accounts, entitlements, licensing, releases, deployment records, data services
vf-agent You, or EEI with you Your Seeq agent host The jobs on that host, starting with the credentials EEI connectors use to sign in to your source systems
APIs and SDKs Developers Anywhere Building against the platform; the SDKs are how connectors and tools are built

In short: vf-agent comes with EEI connectors and works on your host; vf stays with EEI and works on the platform.

What it does today

  • Accounts and entitlements. Each customer has an account, and for each product an entitlement: what it may use (for example, how many data sources a connector may serve), which features, and until when. An entitlement is a commercial decision, recorded with who authorized it, and changed with a command rather than by editing a file.
  • Licensing from one file. EEI products are licensed offline and bound to the host they run on, so issuing a license starts with a file from that host: the host's fingerprint, or, from the connector releases now in preparation, a license request that also says what the product needs. You send that one file to EEI. vf checks the file has not been altered, compares what it asks for with your entitlement, shows the plan to the person issuing, then signs the license, records it, and checks the result before it is sent to you.
  • Releases. Which release each account may install, and retrieval of exactly that release, verified against its checksum.
  • Deployment records. Which product versions run on which hosts, so a new release can be checked against what is actually deployed before it is offered.
  • Data services. Provisioning, checking and maintaining ForgeVault databases, the data stores behind VirtualForge's data services, including moving data between them.

How it is built

The properties that matter to anyone relying on what vf produces:

  • Licensing shows its plan before it acts. Issuing a license states what it will issue, for whom and on which host, asks, and ends with a stage-by-stage PASS/FAIL summary, so nothing is half-done silently. Every change to a record is first checked against the latest records, so two people cannot issue the same license number.
  • Every license traces to a decision. A license is issued only from a recorded entitlement, and the record keeps who signed it, for which host, and in answer to which request.
  • Signing keys are held by the cloud provider, not by people's machines. Keys are read from a managed secrets service at the moment of signing, and only under a role reserved for that job; vf checks the role before it signs.
  • Records are kept, not overwritten. Issued licenses and their history are retained, so a question months later ("which license is that host using, and who issued it?") is a lookup.

Where it is going

vf is the first form of the platform's command line, not the last. The direction:

  • The work moves into the platform. The logic vf runs today is being shaped so that it can become a VirtualForge service, with vf a thin client over the platform's API, the same arrangement the major cloud command lines use.
  • A command line inside VirtualForge. The intended destination is a resident command line in the VirtualForge cloud: part of the platform, already signed in with your context, nothing to install (Working with VirtualForge).
  • Some of it opened to customers. Parts of what vf does, such as seeing your entitlements or requesting a license, may then be offered to customers directly, and to the AI agents that work on their behalf. A platform that can be driven by a script or an agent, and not only clicked through, is one that can be automated.

This is direction, not a dated commitment. Today, vf is EEI's tool, and everything it does for you arrives as a file you are sent or a release you are entitled to.