Creating Smart Virtual Appliances with IBM Image Construction and Composition Tool

In a traditional deployment model, software is installed on a physical server, and it is configured for the particular data center environment. The cloud deployment model requires that the dependency on a specific hardware configuration is severed. This IBM® Redbooks® publication guides you through the transition from the traditional application deployment model to the cloud-friendly deployment model. It explains how to achieve these goals by packaging the software stacks into industry standard virtual appliances.

A key part of this transition involves using the IBM Image Construction and Composition Tool. This tool is the IBM tool for creating virtualized workloads that target several private cloud deployment platforms, including platforms from IBM and not from IBM. In fact, this tool is unique in its ability to support such a wide range of cloud offerings. It is also the only tool in the marketplace that can create virtual appliances for both x86 and IBM Power hardware architectures.

This book provides an in-depth look at the capabilities and internal workings of Image Construction and Composition Tool. It focuses on the capabilities of this tool, which target the virtualization and cloud offerings of IBM Systems and Technology Group. These offerings include IBM Systems Director VMControl™, IBM SmartCloud® Entry, and IBM PureFlex™ System with IBM Flex System Manager™ appliance. The Image Construction and Composition Tool also has a much richer set of capabilities. Specifically, it supports IBM Workload Deployer, IBM PureApplication™ Systems, and IBM SmartCloud Provisioning.

This publication targets software architects, cloud solutions architects, and cloud administrators. Its goal is to provide you with the expert-level skills required to package the existing and newly created applications into self-configurable, smart virtual appliances.