rPath today announced rBuilder 5, the 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 latest version of rBuilder dramatically simplifies the end-user experience; extends the ability to integrate with an organization’s existing tools and processes; and adds a management console for deploying, starting and stopping systems in production. rPath also announced that rBuilder is now available for public download, free-of-charge for up to 20 running instances. This allows anyone to get started with this new approach to packaging and managing applications without delay. rBuilder is available for download at www.rpath.com/corp/free-rbuilder.

“We’re seeing a significant surge of interest in this new approach for delivering applications as self-contained and self-describing systems that are ready to run in any target execution environment,” said Erik Troan, founder and CTO for rPath. “The growing complexity of application deployment environments are colliding with today’s resource constraints and cost reduction measures, forcing enterprise IT organizations to find scalable approaches to application delivery. rBuilder 5 is now free and simple to use, making it easily accessible to any IT organization that needs to contain the cost and complexity of deployment and management.”

According to Brett Thomas, CTO of Vindicia: “rPath has dramatically simplified the process of deploying and maintaining a large number of applications across multiple servers. At Vindicia, we face the dual challenges of compliance mandates and agile development. Luckily, the rPath approach has enabled us to ensure scalability, consistency and control of our application deployment and maintenance processes.”

In a related announcement today, rPath announced its vision and strategy for the next generation of application delivery and system management: “rPath Approach to Application Delivery Targets Lower Cost, Greater Control.” Also, on Thursday, April 30th, rPath is hosting “Tackling the Last Mile of IT Process Automation,” a webinar presented with Forrester Research, Novell and BlueLock. Attendees will hear from industry experts on emerging approaches to automating "the last mile" of IT processes, specifically as it relates to system configuration, deployment and maintenance across traditional, virtual and cloud-based execution environments.

Refining rBuilder

rBuilder creates a self-contained package 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 system maintenance.

With this release, rBuilder delivers a number of enhancements to improve usability by streamlining and simplifying the steps required to take an application from concept to deployable system. The new dynamic user interface and wizard-driven processes guide users through the creation of an appliance, eliminating over 50 percent of the steps required in earlier versions.

Other highlights include:

• Management console. Users can launch, start up, and shut down images across target environments, including VMware ESX, Citrix Xen, Microsoft Hyper-V, Amazon EC2, BlueLock, Globus, GoGrid and Rackspace. The console’s APIs enable integration with existing management and provisioning tools.
• More GUI. Select processes that previously required scripting or command-line interactions are now exposed through the web interface, including creation, management, and initial configuration of the application package.
• Extended APIs. Key aspects of rBuilder’s underlying services are now exposed via REST-based APIs, making it easier for organizations to integrate rPath capabilities with existing build, test and management tools, processes and infrastructure.

Public Download, Free of Charge

This free rBuilder download supplements the company’s other free offering, rBuilder Online, which 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 run behind their enterprise firewalls and integrate with their existing development and systems management tools. rBuilder is free for up to 20 running system instances in production and is available today at www.rpath.com/corp/free-rbuilder.

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