Building virtual appliances with VMware Studio and SUSE Studio
Appliance Builder
© Peter Galbraith, Fotolia
A virtual appliance combines the benefits of virtualization with the simplicity of a single-service device. We show you how to roll your own virtual appliances with VWware Studio and SUSE Studio.
Appliances are electronic gadgets placed in a server room to do one specific job. In the IT space, hardware-based appliances index documents, provide firewall security, and serve as content management systems. These hardware appliances are easy to deploy and configure, but they still take up space. If you're worried about the complications of adding more iron to your rack, you might be looking for something a little more virtual.
A virtual appliance is a virtual machine (VM) that includes a minimal operating system with only the most essential applications – typically centered around a custom tool designed for a specific business need. Virtual appliances can do almost anything a hardware appliance can do. Virtual appliances are deployed as intrusion detection devices, honeypots, firewalls, mail servers, DNS servers, CMS appliances, and much more.
A virtual appliance has all the advantages of other virtual systems – easy deployment, lower utility cost, minimal hardware expense – and it even offers some advantages over conventional virtual systems, such as a smaller OS footprint and reduced memory requirements. Virtual appliances also provide some security benefits: because the system is pared to absolutely minimal functionality, fewer ports are open to intruders. Many virtual appliances get by with only a single dedicated service plus sshd for administrative access.
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