Server Provisioning

The problem with today's installation chain

Deploying a server application is labor-intensive and error-prone. Even when a basic "gold" image of a virtual machine is used to start with, additional configurations are always required to specifically suit a machine for its role. For example, the OS may need to be tuned for specific memory usage; specialized storage may have to be configured; or a security setup tailored to the application may be necessary.

IT operations teams call on numerous specialists, each with their own install program in hand, to configure a machine in sequence until the entire required stack of software is in place. The total duration of building and configuring a server can stretch into days and weeks depending on the availability of people and the planning required. Even with this level of effort, statistics show that configuration accuracy remains an issue, causing the lion's share of failures.

The overall installation effort is more demanding when multiple environments such as staging, training, and demo systems are needed. The requirements of these systems are not identical and, as changes are made over time, each machine becomes unique. Individual virtual machines can be just as hard to maintain as physical machines because the same forces are at work.

The solution: appzero's zero-install approach

appzero offers fast server application deployment - almost instantaneous. This approach allows the components of a server software stack to be preinstalled into one (or more) appzero VAAs. The VAA is simply copied and run. The result is that the application executes on the target server with zero install - and without the likelihood of a configuration error. appzero's approach works:

• On physical and virtual machines
• On any hypervisor
• With any management stack
• On any cloud

Trial appzero: Windows Server, Linux Server, Solaris