Try Open Source Apps on the Cloud

A lot of times there is a need to test applications before you want to

actually deploy them. And testing an application often means provisioning a

server for it, deploying the required OS and later the application. Instead of

going through this lengthy process, you can use the Click2try service.

It has an application catalog, which contains a list of open source

applications that are available. Currently it has around 56 applications such as

WordPress, eGroupware, SugarCRM, Openbravo and OpenERP. Whenever a user selects

a particular application, click2try starts a virtual appliance of that

application on its servers.

There are three plans available: first is free evaluation, where you can try

an application for 4 hours or 7 days, whatever comes first. For continual access

you can subscribe to the paid packages: for USD 40, you can get 1GB of disk

space whereas for USD 60, the disk space available is 10GB with the ability to

run 2 concurrent applications and access rights for 2 users.

How to use



Using click2try is simple, just sign up on the URL. Next, browse through the

application catalog to select the application you wish to try. For trying out

the application, you need a browser and Java 1.6 update 5.7.11 or above. Once

you have selected an application, click on 'Try This Application' button. This

will launch the application in a new window.

It will take a little while for the application to start for the first time,

as a virtual machine of the application you have chosen, will be loaded on the

click2try platform. Once an application has been loaded, the right side of the

browser window will display the credentials required to start the application.

Postbook application running inside Cent OS, being used through Click2try.	Here, you can manage VM image of the application. You can also perform functions like compress, copy, etc.

You can manage an application from the application manager, where you can

copy, shutdown, or delete, compress VM image of your application.Here you can

also view alerts issued and disk space being used.