[rt-users] RT Virtual Appliance 3.8.x for Proxmox VE - First release!

[Martin Maurer]

Hi all,

I am happy to release our brand new RT 3.8.x appliance - based on this a new RT system can be installed in 10 seconds (incl. rt database setup, apache, postfix, etc.)
Ok, you need a Proxmox VE virtualization server and you need to download it first (160 mb)- but if you got this, 10 seconds is possible - and you got enough time to play with the web interface and detailed configuration.

The appliance is based on Debian Lenny (all packages are installed using apt, therefore updates for the base OS and the rt system are easy to apply - apt-get upgrade). For the database we use postgres (rt password is auto-generated during boot - so its unique and secure)

All details about the RT Appliance: http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/RT_Request_Tracker

How to test?
1. Install a Proxmox VE server on a (64-bit capable hardware -Intel or AMD) and download the rt appliance directly via the integrated appliance template downloader (via the Proxmox VE web interface)
2. If you have no hardware, you can also install the Proxmox VE ISO image on VMware/XEN (you VMware/XEN has to be capable running 64-bit linux) - but pls note that the performance here is not the same.

Some background:
We built the appliance using our Debian Appliance Builder http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Debian_Appliance_Builder 

About Proxmox VE: (http://pve.proxmox.com) 
It's a virtualization platform (GPL licensed) - including OS and full virtualization technologies (OpenVZ and KVM)

On this platform, pre-build virtual appliance can be started within seconds as we use http://openvz.org  here. Please note, by using OS virtualization there is little overhead (just 1 to 3 % performance loss) - this is absolutely one of the fastest technology for Linux server virtualization - keep in mind, the disk IO system is NOT virtualized here and therefore you have no performance lost due to virtual disk. Especially for server applications like RT with a lot of database connections and small files, disk access time is one of the key factors for a fast and reliable system. 

We will collect bug reports and suggestions for configuration improvements and we will update the appliance regularly.
Thanks for your time reading till the end and I am looking forward for your feedback.

Best Regards,

Martin Maurer

martin at proxmox.com
http://www.proxmox.com

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