https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2023 MSP 501 Application
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2022 NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2023 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Technology Advisor 101 (TA 101)
    • Channel Leaders Lists
  • Events
    • Back
    • 2023 Call for Speakers
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2023 MSP 501 Application
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2022 NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2023 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Technology Advisor 101 (TA 101)
    • Channel Leaders Lists
  • Events
    • Back
    • 2023 Call for Speakers
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

Open Source


Virtual Appliances as Debian Packages on Ubuntu

  • Written by Christopher Tozzi
  • November 16, 2009

Ubuntu developers recently began discussing plans for deploying virtual appliances via Debian packages, a move which would open up exciting opportunities, especially in the server market.  Here’s the scope, with some thoughts.

As Andreas Heck described recently on the Ubuntu developers’ mailing list, initial work has been completed on specifications for exporting virtual appliances from virtual machines as Debian packages.  In addition, Heck has written a Web-based utility for managing the virtual appliances.

In most respects, none of this is very new. There are already applications, like Enomaly, that provide much of the same functionality for managing virtual appliances.  And the ubuntu-vm-builder scripts make it easy enough to deploy customized virtual machines, while pre-configured virtual disk images for a variety of different hypervisors are already available for many popular applications.

What’s new

Nonetheless, this proposal promises a number of valuable innovations in the way virtual appliances are created and managed.

Above all, it would make the deployment of virtual appliances trivially easy.  For example, setting up a customized virtual machine to run Mediawiki could become as simple as clicking a button in a Web interface.  This is a lot better than having to build a virtual machine, launch it and then install Mediawiki by hand, or download a pre-built image and customize it manually.

The proposal also includes plans to implement application-specific plugins, which could be used to perform useful tasks not currently offered by any management applications.  Users would be able to configure application-specific settings in the virtual appliance from within the management interface on the host–meaning there would no longer be a need to log in to the Mediawiki guest itself in order to maintain the application, using the example from above.

A system like this, if implemented, could open up important new possibilities for Ubuntu in the server market, by making Ubuntu Server Edition a more attractive virtualization platform.  It would also open new possibilities in the Software-as-a-Service realm, since services could be deployed into a virtualized environment with very little effort.

Granted, all of this, for the time being, remains the largely uncompleted work of a single man.  We will have to wait for the next Ubuntu Developer Summit to see whether the proposal is deemed worthy of real attention and integration into Ubuntu servers.  But even now, it’s a very interesting idea with the potential to go far.

Tags: Agents Cloud Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Open Source

Most Recent


  • Virtual data center
    VMware vSphere Upgrade Supports AI Workloads On-Prem with Nvidia GPUs
    The new release makes way for virtualizing HPC servers running AI workloads.
  • Cyber attack
    Microsoft Cyberattack Continues Growing in Severity, Victims Racking Up
    Microsoft had almost two months to push out the patch it shipped on Mar. 2.
  • Important Announcement
    5 Key Announcements from Microsoft Ignite
    Password-less authentication, Azure Arc and simplifying edge development were among the popular topics.
  • Five, 5
    Top 5 Managed Services that Support Business Development
    MSPs can handle IT operations maintenance chores and free company resources for business development.

7 comments

  1. Avatar Didier Misson (didiermisson) 's status on Tuesday, 17-Nov-09 November 17, 2009 @ 3:35 am
    Reply

    […] http://www.workswithu.com/2009/11/16/virtual-appliances-as-debian-packages-on-ubuntu/ a few seconds ago from IdentiFox […]

  2. Avatar Roy (linuxcanuck) 's status on Tuesday, 17-Nov-09 14:36:00 U November 17, 2009 @ 12:36 pm
    Reply

    […] http://www.workswithu.com/2009/11/16/virtual-appliances-as-debian-packages-on-ubuntu/?utm_source=fe… a few seconds ago from web […]

  3. Avatar walt November 17, 2009 @ 1:26 pm
    Reply

    Hum…
    Christopher, what is a virtual appliance?
    Might be a dumb question.
    I read all of your articles and haven’t had a problem understanding them, but a lead-in sentence would help me alot.
    Thanks.

  4. Avatar Christopher Tozzi November 17, 2009 @ 1:51 pm
    Reply

    Walt: this post is aimed more at the server audience than desktop users, so I wouldn’t expect everyone to know what a virtual appliance is if they’re not using Ubuntu on servers. But for a definition, Wikipedia’s article is good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_appliance.

    Thanks for the tip on stronger lead-in sentences; I’ll try to focus more on that.

  5. Avatar Liraz Siri November 17, 2009 @ 2:11 pm
    Reply

    @walt Regarding your question, what is a virtual appliance see here:

    http://www.turnkeylinux.org/virtual-appliance

    I’m kind of puzzled that Chris would write a post about Ubuntu virtual appliances and not mention TurnKey Linux, an Ubuntu based virtual appliance library with over 40 Ubuntu based appliances:

    http://www.turnkeylinux.org/

    You can deploy those. Right now. On bare metal, virtual machines and in the cloud.

    Debian packages were never really designed for this sort of thing and trying to force them into that role raises the bar by making things overly complicated.

    Incidentally, we’ve given some thought to getting the community more involved with appliance development recently released TKLPatch, a simple way to customize and extend any appliance in the TurnKey Linux virtual
    appliance library. It’s extremely simple and should work for non-TurnKey appliances as well:

    http://www.turnkeylinux.org/docs/tklpatch

    New appliances can be built as patches to the closest starting point in the library (e.g., TurnKey Core, LAMP, Django, Rails, Tomcat).

    BTW, we’re building out TurnKey Linux as a specialized extension of the Ubuntu community that focuses on appliance development. Some people confuse the project for a fork but if you take a look at an appliance under the hood you’ll see it is pretty much a standard installation of Ubuntu that has been customized for a particular usage scenario. We just give users a better starting point. Like Ubuntu, TurnKey Linux is 100% open source.

    Anyhow, we’ve invested a ton of effort into figuring out all of the issues and we’d like to invite any one interested in appliance development to collaborate with us. Reinventing the wheel is such a poor use of the community’s resources.

    Once we add an appliance to the project we assume the burden of maintaining it at the appliance level with regular updates. This frees you to focus on more interesting tasks (e.g., improving quality of integration, software sub-components).

    Cheers
    Liraz Siri

  6. Avatar lefty.crupps November 17, 2009 @ 2:11 pm
    Reply

    They’re not Debian packages if they’re not running on Debian, regardless of the .deb extension (which really should be changed to .ubu IMHO)

  7. Avatar Juju January 4, 2010 @ 3:42 pm
    Reply

    See also an innovative appliance factory, http://www.usharesoft.com.

    You will be able to build and deploy virtual appliance in few clicks !!

    Access to a wide range of open source OSs and projects catalogue. Join a fast growing community and share your favorite appliance with your colleagues.

    The platform manages the life cycle of your virtual appliance : access to a private software appliance library, control versioning, updates and cloning.

    The company is ramping up to the cloud!!!

    Free account available

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • modern applications
    Making Modern Applications More Secure
  • Virtual data center
    3 Disruptive Networking Technologies Coming to Your Data Center
  • Risk level
    Cloud Security Provider Says Policy Gap Puts AWS Security at Risk
  • HPE Ezmeral
    HPE Ezmeral Updates Drive ‘Data-Driven Digital Transformation’

Upcoming Events

View all

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

May 1, 2023 - May 4, 2023

Channel Partners Europe

June 13, 2023 - June 14, 2023

Channel Futures Leadership Summit

October 30, 2023 - November 2, 2023

Galleries

View all

8 Channel People Making Waves This Week at Lumen, Accenture, Amazon, Canalys, More

March 24, 2023

National Women’s History Month: Channel Women Have Stories to Tell

March 24, 2023

VEC Attack Tries to Steal $36 Million, Ferrari, Dole Hit with Ransomware Attacks

March 23, 2023

Industry Perspectives

View all

Selling Your MSP: Strategic vs. Financial Buyers

March 22, 2023

10 Strategic Smart Enterprise Drivers for 2023

March 16, 2023

Does Your Company Have a Virtual Water Cooler?

March 13, 2023

Webinars

View all

Equipping the Hybrid Workforce: What It Takes to Execute

March 28, 2023

Give Customers the Power: How MSPs Can Leverage Cloud Choice

April 4, 2023

DE&I Dialogue: How the Right DE&I Initiatives Can Propel Your Business

April 5, 2023

White Papers

View all

6 UCaaS Reseller Challenges and How Real World Businesses Solved Them

February 1, 2023

Frost Radar: North American UCaaS Market, 2022

February 1, 2023

The Complete Guide to White-Label UCaaS for Reseller Success

February 1, 2023

Channel Futures TV

View all

Coffee with Craig and James Episode 121: Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Aryaka ‘Driving Value to the Channel Community’ with Throttle

March 24, 2023

Real-Life M&A: Advice for a Successful Channel Deal

March 13, 2023

Coffee with Craig and James Episode 120: Ronnell Richards

March 3, 2023

Twitter

ChannelFutures

Channel people making waves include: @jmcbain, @NetworkMoe, @ajassy, @JulieSweet, @Elvia_Valdes_M, @GovITDave… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

March 24, 2023
ChannelFutures

We delve into AI impacting the channel, this week featuring @nvidia, @GoTo, @twilio and more.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

March 24, 2023
ChannelFutures

[email protected]_Inc's Peer Insights are a treasure trove for partners looking to sell #SDWAN. dlvr.it/SlRDmk https://t.co/oElLXzOIbb

March 24, 2023
ChannelFutures

#CPExpo preview: @GlobalIndirect of @AryakaChannel with a preview of the next phase of the company's channel progra… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

March 24, 2023
ChannelFutures

U.S. competition regulators want to know if @AWSCloud, @Azure, @GoogleCloud, @OracleCloud hold too much market powe… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

March 24, 2023
ChannelFutures

📣 Join us on April 13th to hear from the 2023 Channel Influencers and get their insights on the state of the channe… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

March 24, 2023
ChannelFutures

#CPExpo preview: Learn about why @USWired accepted an #acquisition deal and what partners should look for in an M&A… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

March 24, 2023
ChannelFutures

.@Veeam lays off 200 workers to increase efficiency. #backupandrecovery dlvr.it/SlQWZW https://t.co/QTJx1NX69q

March 24, 2023

MSP 501

The industry's largest and most comprehensive partner awards program.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X