|
Applications as Appliances
Continued from page: 3
Monday, January 01, 2007
How to Build your Own Virtual Appliance
To build your own virtual appliance, which includes your applications,
databases and library files per-configured and ready, you need to create an
image of a virtual machine with a stripped down OS and your application, and
port that machine as a virtual appliance. In order to do this, you have two
options. Create an appliance on your virtual machine and then configure the
application and host it as an appliance. Or, you can use ready made tools for
the job. For instance, there's an application called rBuilder that creates one
for you. Here, we discuss both options in detail.
Build it on VMware
To build a virtual appliance for VMware, first get a copy of VMware Workstation
or VMware Server and install it on your machine. Then create a new virtual
machine (VM). Make sure that you configure the memory for the VM and reserve
enough disk space on the virtual disk. Create the VM in its own folder so that
the whole folder can be packaged later. After this, configure the virtual
machine with all the necessary devices that you need in your appliance. Make
sure that you set the network up in a way that is simple for your target users
to deploy. For example, configure the IP address of the virtual network
manually. Then install the guest operating system inside your new VM. We used
Fedora 6 minimum installation with MySQL and Apache.
 |
| Running a virtual appliance from VMware Player is as easy as opening a file |
Make sure to check OS licensing and redistribution requirements. Once your OS
is installed on the virtual machine with all the tools inside the new VM, you
need to configure the necessary services and applications required for your
appliance (your custom software, development tools, configuration tools,
documentation, Web servers, etc). We used a Coppermine Web based photo
management application in this virtual application. Then you need to tune your
guest OS and/or the VM. After this create a document of any special requirements
and settings for your virtual appliance and save it to a location where your VM
files (*.vmdk, *.vmx, etc) are saved. If you are using Linux and want to show
the user the appliance's basic settings and other info, you need to put the
text for it in/etc/rc.local file. Make sure that you unmount any installation
media or ISO files and remove any custom network settings (proxy servers, etc),
before 'finalizing' your appliance.
Finally pack up the folder that contains your VM files. Use ZIP, TAR, and/or
GZIP tool to compress your directory into a single ZIP file. Once you have built
your virtual appliance, you need to test it out on a different machine using
VMware Player, VMware Workstation or VMware Server. With that your virtual
appliance is ready. One thing you don't get in this virtual appliance is an
automatic Web based configuration wizard, which will guide a user through
configuring the application. After all, the real value of a virtual appliance
comes when you can configure everything on it remotely from a web browser.
 |
| rBuilder lets you create your own virtual appliance. It automatically creates a Web front end for your application |
Build it on rBuilder
This is an online application that allows you to build a virtual appliance in
three easy steps. The beauty of the process is that you don't have to bother
about the guest OS. It uses its own stripped down version of Linux (rlinux). All
you need to do is select the application that you want to add to the virtual
appliance. Finally, build the appliance in the form of ISO, VMware Image, Live
CD, etc. Let's see how to do it. Open a Web browser and go to http://rpath.com.
Here you will get a link for building virtual appliances online. Click on this
link and you will be asked for a user name and password. Authenticate yourself
on the site and you'll get a wizard to build a virtual appliance.
In the first setup you have to create a new group for your project. This
group will signify the name for your software appliance. From your project's
home page, click on Group Builder and complete the Web form with details of this
group. Then add packages to a group like adding ingredients for your appliance.
Use the Search text box at the top of the rBuilder Web interface to find
packages you want to include, and click 'Add to group' beside a package to
choose it for your appliance.
The 'Group Builder' on the right side of the page will show the packages
you have selected and provide links to use while you build the appliance. After
this click on 'Cook this Group' in Group Builder and you will see that
rBuilder assembles chosen packages in the group. When the group has finished
building the appliance, you are ready to create and manage builds to distribute
as your new software appliance. In order to create the final
distribution, click on 'Create a build' link of your appliance group into a
distributable software appliance. Then click on 'Manage Builds,' choose the
appliance group and a build type such as installable CD/DVD or VMware Player
image, and click on 'Create the new build.' Once the new appliance build is
created, go to 'Manage Releases' link and publish your newly built
appliance, making it available for download. Now you can download the virtual
appliance and use it on VMware, MS Virtual Server or a XEN virtual machine.
Sanjay Majumder and Sujay V Sarma Page(s) 1 2 3 4
|
