3/26/2015
10virtualappliancesthatcansimplifyyourjobTechRepublic
OPENSOURCE
10virtualappliancesthatcansimplifyyourjob
ByJackWallenin10Things,September27,2012,3:43AMPST // jlwallen
Ifyou'veneverworkedwithvirtualappliances,youoweittoyourselftocheck
themout.Hereare10goodonesthatwillgiveyouanideaofwhattheycan
doforyou.
Whenyouneedtoquicklydeployaserverortestaserverbasedapplication,oneofthebest
meansofdoingsoisbyusingavirtualappliance.Avirtualapplianceisessentiallyaprebuilt
virtualmachineofaconfiguredserverthatoffersanynumberoffeaturesorservices.Thereare
virtualappliancesforERP,CRM,fileserving,groupware,andjustabouteverytypeofserveryou
canthinkof.Youcandownloadcompleteoperatingsystemsorpowerfulservicesbuiltontopof
fullblownserverOSes.
Ihaveroundedup10ofmyfavoriteturnkeysolutions,whichyoucandownloadandloadupinto
yourfavoritevirtualmachinehosttodeployortest.Sincetherearehundredsuponhundredsof
thesetypesoftoolsavailable,Itriedtoofferavarietyaswellaslistthosethatarereadymadefor
VMware(http://www.vmware.com/)andVirtualBox(http://www.virtualbox.org/).
1:LAMPstack
LAMPstack(http://www.turnkeylinux.org/lampstack)isforanyonewhoneedstoquicklydeployaLAMP
server(LinuxApacheMySQLPHP).ThisvirtualapplianceoffersSSLsupport,PHP,Pythonand
PerlsupportforApache2andMySQL,XCache(PHPopcodecachingacceleration),
PHPMyAdmin(WebbasedfrontendforMySQL),PostfixMTA(mailserver),andWebmin
modulesforconfiguringApache2,PHP,MySQL,andPostfix.Withthisappliance,youcanquickly
testandrolloutWebsitesandservicesortestcustomizedLAMPoptimization.
2:Drupalappliance
Drupal(http://drupal.org/)isoneofthefinestCMSsystemsavailable.Ifyouneedproof,loadup
Drupalappliance(http://www.turnkeylinux.org/drupal6)andpointyourWebbrowsertothesite.This
Drupalappliancealsooffersnumerouspreinstalledmodules,suchasViews,CCK,Panels(drag
anddropcustomizedlayoutsforpages,nodes,andblocks),Backupandmigrate,Devel(helper
modulesforDrupalmoduleandthemedevelopers),Drush(commandlineshellandUNIX
scriptinginterface),CKEditor(WYSIWYGeditor),IMCE(imagefileuploaderandbrowser),
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10virtualappliancesthatcansimplifyyourjob/
1/6
3/26/2015
10virtualappliancesthatcansimplifyyourjobTechRepublic
CAPTCHA,PathAuto(toautogeneratesearchenginefriendlyURLs),GlobalRedirect(alias301
redirects),Webform(tocreateformsandquestionnaires),andmuchmore.
3:WordPressappliance
TheWordPressappliance(http://www.turnkeylinux.org/wordpress)willhelpyougettheworld'smost
popularbloggingsystemupandrunninginmoments.YouwillinstantlyhaveaWordPressserver
thatisinstalledfromupstreamsourcecodeto/var/www/wordpress.Alsoincludedisanintegrated
upgrademechanism,theabilitytouploadmediasuchasimagesandvideos,permalink
configurationsupportedthroughanadminconsole,andautomaticpluginupgrades.
4:DomainControllerappliance
TheDomainControllerappliance(http://www.turnkeylinux.org/domaincontroller)isaSambabased
Windowsdomaincontrollerserver.Thisapplianceisconfiguredtosupportnetlogon,network
attachedstoragefordomainusers,roamingprofiles,andPnPprintingservices.Itincludesa
powerfulWebinterfacetomakeconfiguringSambaandprintingservicesasnap.
5:Zimbraappliance
TheZimbraappliance(http://www.turnkeylinux.org/zimbra)willhaveyouupandrunningwithapowerful
groupwareproductthatincludesaWebbasedcollaborationsuite,emailandgroupcalendars,
advancedsearchcapabilitieswithdaterelationships,onlinedocumentauthoring,andmashups.
ThisapplianceprovidesanincredibleAjaxbasedWebinterfacethatsupportstooltips,dragable
items,andrightclickmenus.
6:OTRSappliance
TheOTRSappliance(http://www.turnkeylinux.org/otrs)isapowerfulprebuiltticketrequestsystem.It
allowsyoutotryoutoneofthefinesthelpdesksolutionsonthemarketandincludesaPostfix
emailsystemandWebminmodulesfortheconfigurationoftheLAMPsubsystem.Onceit'sup
andrunning,youcaneasilymanagehelpdeskrequestsoriginatingfromeitheremailorphone
calls.
7:Openfilerappliance
TheOpenfilerappliance(http://www.openfiler.com/community/download)willconvertanystandardx86/64
systemintoafullfledgedNAS/SANapplianceorIPstoragegateway.Withthisvirtualappliance,
youhaveeasyaccesstoallthetoolstofityourgrowingstorageneeds.Openfileralsohelps
bridgethegapbetweenplatforms,easilyallowingforstoragefromanyOSorsystem.
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10virtualappliancesthatcansimplifyyourjob/
2/6
3/26/2015
10virtualappliancesthatcansimplifyyourjobTechRepublic
8:OpsviewCoreVirtualAppliance
TheOpsviewCoreVirtualAppliance(http://www.opsview.com/technology/downloads/opsviewcore/opsviewcore
virtualappliance)iswhatyouneedifyou'relookingforcompletevisibilityofyourITinfrastructure.Its
integratedGUIenablesyoutoquicklyconfigurethetool.OpsviewintegrateswithNagiosplugins
tofurtherextendthefeatureset.Thisapplianceisidealforapplicationperformancemonitoring,
networkmonitoring,andWindows,LinuxandUNIXservermonitoringinsmalltomidsize
environments.
9:FOGProject
FOG(http://www.fogproject.org/)letsyoucloneaWindowsXP,Vista,or7system.ItusesTFTPand
PXEandhasavastnumberofdriversbuiltintothekernel.Thissystemincludesagraphical
interfaceforchangingthehostname,anditenablesyoutorestartthecomputer(ifataskis
createdforit)andautoimporthostsintotheFOGdatabase.Italsoinstallsprintersanddoes
simplesnapins.
10:Moodle
Moodle(http://bitnami.org/stack/moodle)isaBitNamistackthatsimplifiesthedeploymentofMoodle.
Moodleisapopularcoursemanagementsystemthat'sdesignedtohelpeducatorscreateonline
learningcommunities.Usedin175countries,Moodlecanscalefromasinglecomputeruptoa
50,000studentuniversity.
Worthatry
Ifyouhaven'ttriedvirtualappliances,youneedtodosorightaway.Theseincredibletimesaving
toolscanhelpyouquicklylearntheinsandoutsofspecificpiecesofsoftwareandsystems,as
wellasvirtualization.Checkoutafewofthesevirtualappliancesandseeiftheydon'tmakeyour
worldmucheasiertomanage.
SignupforTechRepublic's10Thingsnewsletter!
Subscribe
AboutJackWallen
JackWallenisanawardwinningwriterforTechRepublicandLinux.com.Hesanavidpromoterofopen
sourceandthevoiceofTheAndroidExpert.FormorenewsaboutJackWallen,visithiswebsite
getjackd.net.
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10virtualappliancesthatcansimplifyyourjob/
3/6
3/26/2015
10virtualappliancesthatcansimplifyyourjobTechRepublic
Recommended
Google'sbiggest'moonshots'in
photos
10bestusesforopensource
softwareinthebusinessworld
Photos:10musthaveaccessories
foryour3Dprinter
AddyourComment
Editor'sPicks
Wecommerce:The
sharingeconomy's
uncertainpath
'PayPalMafia'redefined
successinSilicon
Valley
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10virtualappliancesthatcansimplifyyourjob/
4/6
3/26/2015
10virtualappliancesthatcansimplifyyourjobTechRepublic
HowAaronLevieand
hischildhoodfriends
builtBox
Conflictmineralsfunded
awarthatkilledmillions
Recommended
Photos:10hardwarestartupstowatchin2015
FiveobscureAndroidappsthatshouldbeonyourmustuselist
Torvaldsisn'talwaysnice,butdevelopersdon'tcare
Learnmore
Poweredby
forZafar
Don'tMissOurLatestUpdates
Editor'sDailyPicks
Subscribe
WeekinReview
Subscribe
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10virtualappliancesthatcansimplifyyourjob/
5/6
3/26/2015
10virtualappliancesthatcansimplifyyourjobTechRepublic
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10virtualappliancesthatcansimplifyyourjob/
6/6
