SUSE Appliance Toolkit Released – Build, Test and Manage Software Appliances
Novell has released SUSE Appliance Toolkit, a suite of tools that claim to significantly reduces the time and cost for independent software vendors (ISVs) and enterprises to develop, deploy and manage software appliances. The Toolkit features an onsite version of Novell’s appliance-building solution SUSE Studio and new management tools that enable ISVs and enterprises to reduce software development time, installation cycles and maintenance costs.
“Software appliances are an ideal solution for organizations faced with delivering projects on schedule, managing diverse development teams, and securely developing and deploying applications across multiple hardware and software platforms,” said Brett Waldman, research analyst, System Software at IDC.
“However, the creation, support and management of software appliances remain a mission-critical issue for ISVs and enterprises. Addressing the challenges of building, deploying and configuring enterprise software across widespread networks represents a significant opportunity for the software industry as a whole.”
The SUSE Appliance Toolkit is a collection of tools designed to make building, testing, updating and configuring appliances fast and easy. Developers can choose to build their appliances on either SUSE Linux Enterprise or openSUSE.
The SUSE Appliance Toolkit includes:
- SUSE Studio Onsite, a local, behind-the-firewall version of the online appliance creation tool, SUSE Studio Online.
- WebYaST, a tool for enabling remote, Web-based configuration of the SUSE Linux Enterprise.
- SUSE Lifecycle Management Server, a tool for authentication, entitlement and access control that makes it easier to distribute software patches and updates.
- Support for KIWI, the image creation tool behind SUSE Studio. KIWI is a command line tool for creating appliances.
