TKL on Rackspace

Although aAFAIK Rackspace are using OpenStack now aren't they? If so you can upload custom images then you can use the TKL OpenStack builds. Otherwise you'll probably have to rsync (like someone posted about years ago). Or maybe you could ask them to host TKL images? Seeing as TKL provide rsync mirrors it's probably not unrealistic for them to do that.

I checked with Rackspace on this, since they offer their own OpenStack images.

The response I got was you can use your own custom OpenStack images, but they don't officially support it on the public cloud servers. (I believe they do support it on private cloud b/c that's what they recommended)

You can always sign up for a free Rackspace account and give it a whirl. Probably not a bad idea anyway as it gives you the chance to test the performance of your application on their servers.

That's one of the great things about TKL b/c you can build your application locally, then move it to AWS, bare metal, Linode, Rackspace, etc. It's amazing how one cloud server performs compared to another.

I see all of this talk about being able to drop a TKL appliance into any space (Like Rackspace as you mentioned in your last paragraph), but what I don't see is any clearcut instructions on how to do so. Everything seems to be geared the the TKL hub, which right now for me is broken. 

For example, I want a LAMP appliance on a Rackspace server, you make it sound so easy, is it really?

Any links or simple instructions for me? :o)

Hi Rick,

I'm probably a 4 out of 10 when it comes to linux skills, but I'll try to explain as best I can. (apologies if what I'm saying is stuff you already know)

Each type of download is specific to what "space" you want to drop a TKL app into. Here's TKL's take on it: /docs/builds

Regarding cloud hosts (Rackspace, Linode, etc), the deployment of a LAMP appliance will vary slightly because of each hosting company's control panel/setup. But, the concept is pretty much the same. I'm not familiar with Rackspace specifically, which is why I opened a support chat and asked them if it was possible. If you want to go with Rackspace I'd do what I suggested and open up a free trial and see if you can get it working.

Here's the basic concept:

1. Download the appropriate image: /lampstack

Rackspace uses Openstack, so you'd want this image: /download?file=turnkey-lamp-12.0-squeeze-x86-...

2. Log into your Rackspace cloud account

3. Install the image using the tools provided in your cloud server's control panel

4. Hopefully, they make it easy for you by providing a management tool for networking

If you want to get your hands dirty without using Rackspace, then I would say just use the LAMP appliance locally, on your own computer inside Virtual Box.

1. Download Virtual Box

2. Download your TKL LAMP app

3. Install and configure

4. Test and develop to your heart's content...for free!

Here's a great walkthrough with video: /docs/installation-appliances-virtualbox

Now, say you've got your test LAMP server set up and running on your local machine with Virtual Box and you're ready to purchase hosting and show it to the world...what to do? Well, this is the beauty of TKL.

If you purchase a dedicated, bare metal server....you can have the hosting company install from TKL LAMP in .iso format. Then, login to your bare metal server, which will be a vanilla version of TKL LAMP (none of your data, just the base install). Go to the backup/restore menu, restore your test server and BAM! you're live.

If you want to go the cloud route, for example, I would suggest Linode.com... it's the same concept. Follow linode's walkthrough on how to install from an .iso. Now you have a vanilla version of TKL LAMP running on linode's cloud. Now you can login to this vanilla version of TKL LAMP, go to backup/restore, and restore your local test server to the cloud server. BAM! you're in business. Here's a walkthrough from linode on how to install from an .iso using their control panel http://library.linode.com/migration/migrate-server-to-linode

If you wanted to just test moving between servers, to make sure it works, you can actually make another local, test server in Virtual Box! Set up the LAMP app and leave it vanilla. On your first Virtual Box server, hit backup. Wait a few minutes (or more depending on how large your website is). Go to the 2nd server, hit restore. Now you can see how it works without spending a dollar.

But wait...there's more!

Again, my apologies if you already know all of this, but maybe it might be useful. I got confused initially b/c of Amazon and how it works with TKL.

You don't have to use Amazon....at all, if you don't want to. There are two places where Amazon is (normally) used with TKL.

1. for backup

2. for cloud server

Using Amazon for backup is unbelievalby cheap, and makes it seamless to drop TKL app's anywhere you want. In the meandering examples I gave above, that's what's happening everytime you backup/restore. TKL puts a copy of your TK LAMP app on Amazon for you. I have 2gb of websites on my LAMP app, and it costs me 32 cents a month.

You can run the LAMP app on: virtual box, dedicated server from a web host, cloud server from a web host, etc...all without using Amazon EC2 cloud servers. That is what is so amazing about TKL! they let you pick your hosting environment. For me, as a web developer who only knows enough linux to get by, this is huge. It's such a pain to move between web hosts. TKL let me build a huge website, deploy it to linode, Amazon, and bare metal so I could compare performance and make a choice of which route I wanted to go (ended up with bare metal, $75/mo for 8 core CPU, 8 GB RAM, 10TB transfer).

Anyway, I hope this helps in a roundabout sort of way.

I am also interested about using TKL on Rackspace.

Another solution could be to install on Rackspace a normal Ubuntu or Debian server, and then install a TKL server inside a chroot.

I am working on such a solution, but it is not stable yet. With some help from the others, maybe it can be made to work well.