# Can I use mender server with my own Linux system?
**URL:** https://hub.mender.io/t/can-i-use-mender-server-with-my-own-linux-system/1871
**Category:** General Discussions
**Created:** [May 1, 2020, 2:54pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/can-i-use-mender-server-with-my-own-linux-system/1871 "2020-05-01T14:54:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tong](https://hub.mender.io/u/tong)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2020, 2:54pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/can-i-use-mender-server-with-my-own-linux-system/1871/1 "2020-05-01T14:54:03Z")
Hi All,
I have a working system on iMX6 HW running on Debian. If I don’t want to integer Mender client into the board, can I use the open Restful API to talk to Mender server then download the deb file and install by my own code?
Thanks,
Ctljm
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### Author:  [@dellgreen](https://hub.mender.io/u/dellgreen)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2020, 5:10pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/can-i-use-mender-server-with-my-own-linux-system/1871/2 "2020-05-01T17:10:47Z")
Whilst not running debian, my companies yocto products are currently doing just that with our own client using the Rest API albeit, we are using mender client in standalone mode to image the spare partition. We are currently working on a Ubuntu product which will also use a similar process.
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### Author:  [@dellgreen](https://hub.mender.io/u/dellgreen)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/can-i-use-mender-server-with-my-own-linux-system/1871/3 "2020-05-01T17:38:36Z")
On closer reading, it looks like you are saying you have no mender bootloader modifications either?
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### Author:  [@tong](https://hub.mender.io/u/tong)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2020, 9:29pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/can-i-use-mender-server-with-my-own-linux-system/1871/4 "2020-05-01T21:29:48Z")
No, our solution doesn’t have any mender software on device side, we have different partition layout, and our own bootloader.
What we want to use mender for, is a server side product to allow our device to check whether there is any new version available, and provide a download link if so. At the mean time, we want to use mender’s administrator interface to facilitate OTA file upload.
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### Author:  [@dellgreen](https://hub.mender.io/u/dellgreen)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2020, 11:19pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/can-i-use-mender-server-with-my-own-linux-system/1871/5 "2020-05-01T23:19:35Z")
the mender server rest api will allow you to determine if an update is available for your device. It will also provide you a download link if update is available. However apologies, I am not familiar with using deb files as the mender artifact on the server. I have always created mender update artifacts using the mender tools which results in a tar file containing metadata and a ext4 file inside that gets imaged to the non-active partition.
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### Author:  [@kacf](https://hub.mender.io/u/kacf)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2020, 6:53am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/can-i-use-mender-server-with-my-own-linux-system/1871/6 "2020-05-04T06:53:31Z")
@tong, I think what you are asking is possible, if I understand you correctly. You can use [Update Modules](https://hub.mender.io/c/update-modules/13) to do updates using single files, whole directories or deb packages. You can also [write your own Update Module](https://docs.mender.io/2.3/devices/update-modules#basic-example-file-copy-update-module) to do custom things with a file. Doing so is not hard, it is usually just a short script.
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### Author:  [@mirzak](https://hub.mender.io/u/mirzak)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2020, 8:00am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/can-i-use-mender-server-with-my-own-linux-system/1871/7 "2020-05-04T08:00:33Z")
Also check out this tutorial, which explains the device facing APIs in more detail,
[https://hub.mender.io/t/how-to-write-a-custom-client-interfacing-a-mender-server/1353/2](https://hub.mender.io/t/how-to-write-a-custom-client-interfacing-a-mender-server/1353/2)