rPath today debuted its free version of rBuilder, the company’s solution for automating the packaging and management of applications as complete and self-contained systems that are ready to run in any traditional, virtual or cloud-based environment. The move gives companies a way to reduce the cost and complexity of deploying and maintaining enterprise applications—now free of charge. rBuilder is available for public download at www.rpath.com/corp/free-rbuilder.

What is rBuilder? rBuilder automates the creation of a self-contained, ready-to-deploy system that includes an application and all the components necessary for it to run in any bare metal, hypervisor or cloud environment. In addition, it captures all the configuration information and dependencies between the components within the packaged system. The entire system definition, including components and dependencies, are managed within a version-controlled repository, which enables automated delivery of updates and patches to the running system.

How does this offering differ from rBuilder Online? rBuilder Online is a community site for creating public and private virtual appliance projects. This new free, public download is a complete version of rBuilder that users can install and run behind their enterprise firewalls and integrate with existing development and systems management tools.

How does this offering differ from the commercial version of rBuilder? Unlike the commercial version, this free public download is limited to 20 running system instances in production. Once users reach this threshold, they’re obligated to establish a commercial relationship with rPath. Additionally, support for this version is through the community only.

Who will benefit? Release and deployment managers, IT operations managers, dev and test personnel and others seeking to take time and cost out of application deployment and maintenance.

Why is rBuilder important? Many organizations have dramatically accelerated application development through agile methods and other dynamic approaches. But despite the progress made in these phases, the downstream aspects of deployment and maintenance typically remain manual processes. Time, money, and business opportunities are wasted as IT operations staff struggle to move critical business applications into production. rBuilder automates those processes to lower costs, lower risks in application delivery, and dramatically improve enterprise agility and business responsiveness.

What are the key rBuilder features? rBuilder features a dynamic user interface and wizard-driven processes that guide users through the creation of a complete, self-contained and ready-to-run system. Key rBuilder features include:

• Automated dependency discovery. rBuilder introspects the application to identify and resolve the full breadth of dependencies the application requires to run.
• Automated update. Deep dependency tracking and version control allow users to automatically and safely deliver updates and patches to running systems.
• Multiple platform options. Users can select between any of a number of Linux options as the foundation for their appliance and can package and include their own components.
• Multiple formats. Users can specify output of multiple system formats for bare metal; hypervisors, including VMware ESX, Citrix Xen and Microsoft Hyper-V; and clouds, including Amazon EC2, BlueLock, and Globus.
• Management console. Users can launch, start up, and shut down images across target environments. APIs enable integration with existing management and provisioning tools.
• Integration and Automation. rBuilder’s underlying services are programmatically accessible via command line interface and REST-based APIs. This enables rPath capabilities to be automated and seamlessly integrated with existing tools and processes.

What are the rBuilder systems requirements? Complete system requirements and installation/basic usage instructions can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/rPathQuickStart.

For more information on rPath, please visit http://www.rpath.com. For additional perspectives, please visit and subscribe to rPath RSS blog feeds at http://blogs.rpath.com/wpmu/, or follow the company on Twitter at @rPath.