How to install an appliance on a generic VPS account?

I'm new to TKL, after following the project from a distance for about a year. I'm working on a web app stack that, unlike the current crop of appliances, includes quite a few packages. Rather than a utility appliance, it is meant to be a cluster node.

Anyway, I'm curious if it is possible to install a TKL iso (which I'll get by using tkpatch) on a random VPS host? I know VPS.net and other hosts have a library of appliances that you can install, but this is a custom appliance and I'm looking for the flexibility of installing it on ANY VPS.

I've seen it mentioned that this can work, but I've been completely unable to find a how-to. Please note also that I've been out of the server admin world for about a decade. But you never forget unix, right? And my beard is long and grey.

I did search for a HowTo but didn't find one. I think the biggest issue I can see is that presumably the Appliance has a kernel and most VPS hosts use their own kernel? Is there something I need to look for to know which VPSes can run appliances?

Thanks in advance!

Replies (3)

PS- I'm specifically meaning

Reply 1 2010-11-09

PS- I'm specifically meaning XEN HVM based VPSes, not OpenVM, etc, though if those are supported as well, great.

PPS- Maybe the hub does or will do this. Want to be able to do it without using the hub, though I expect many people who use this appliance will use the hub. EG: Want to have both methods supported, even if not using the hub is a many step process.

Is this the post you recall?

Reply 2 2010-11-09

Jomi installed TKL to RackSpace VPS, and here's what he did. Sounds pretty painful really but obviously can be done.

I'd be inclined to think that the best way to go would be to create a TKLPatch pf your desired appliance, then install the base OS on the VPS, make sure it all works, then patch the live running system. Or you could get it all sorted in a local VM environment and then rsync it. Sounds like it'd be pretty painful, but hey if you can achieve your end result then its all worth it.

I think ultimately the TKL devs want to support many many VPS and I suspect it will be through the Hub.

Thank you Jed. What I was

Reply 3 2010-11-10

Thank you Jed. What I was referring to is this text: "Each virtual appliance is optimized for ease of use and can be deployed in just a few minutes on bare metal, a virtual machine and in the cloud."

I have used TKL in the past to quickly evaluate open source projects, without cluttering up my system by running them in virtual box. Somewhere I assumed that "a virtual machine and in the cloud" both meant "on generic VPSs."

TKL appeals to me because it is a single image, and thus "installation" is theoretically a file copy to the new virtual environment. This works great the way I'd used it in the past with VirtualBox.

I'd apparently just assumed that there was a way to do this with generic VPSs. What I'd wanted to do was get away from the possibility of a deployment script failing, or a source for a package being down, the VPS provider advertising it as "10.04" but actually has made their own tweaks, etc.

I want to eliminate the risk and effort of deployment to any VPS much the way Amazon has done with AMIs. But not be tied to a single vender, like Amazon.

If deployment scripts are the nature of the game due to the variety of VPS types, then I'll have to have a look at chef and maybe puppet too.

I'd appreciate any advice.