1.3 Why Appliances?

In contrast with servers, appliances simplify the development and delivery model for Filr so that we can provide you with new services more quickly.

Appliance benefits include the following:

  • Simplified Deployment: Filr appliances are built on specific and tuned operating systems (SLES 11 SP3 in the case of Filr 1.2). This means that you don’t have to install the operating system, select the packages, and so on because everything needed is included and ready to configure and run.

    By the same token, packages and services that aren’t needed aren’t included, and therefore they don’t consume system resources.

  • Simplified Management: Appliances include the following:

    • Appliance-specific configuration wizards to configure exactly and only what is required.

    • Web-based administration tools for changing configurations, adding or provisioning users, and so on, from basically anywhere that you need to be.