Red Hat SummitChapter 1. RHEL image builder description
To deploy a system, create a system image. To create RHEL system images, use the RHEL image builder tool. You can use RHEL image builder to create customized system images of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, including system images prepared for deployment on cloud platforms. RHEL image builder automatically handles the setup details for each output type. It is therefore easier to use and faster to work with than manual methods of image creation. You can access the RHEL image builder functionalities by using the image-builder tool, or the graphical user interface in the RHEL web console.
The image-builder tool, available as a Technology Preview, has the following characteristics:
- A simpler installation and environment configuration.
- You can work with a container-friendly daemonless model, removing the complexity of a client/server architecture.
-
You can use
image-builderfor automated pipelines and container-based builds. -
image-buildersupports creating a container image that you can use as a portable environment to build other images.
1.1. RHEL image builder terminology
RHEL image builder uses specific terminology for its core concepts.
- Blueprint
A blueprint is a description of a customized system image. It lists the packages and customizations that will be part of the system. You can edit blueprints with customizations and save them as a particular version. When you create a system image from a blueprint, the image is associated with the blueprint in the RHEL image builder interface.
Create blueprints in the TOML format.
- Compose
- Composes are individual builds of a system image, based on a specific version of a particular blueprint. Compose as a term refers to the system image, the logs from its creation, inputs, metadata, and the process itself.
- Customizations
- Customizations are specifications for the image that are not packages. This includes users, groups, and SSH keys.
1.2. RHEL image builder output formats
RHEL image builder can create images in multiple output formats shown in the table.
| Description | CLI name | File extension | Architecture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Web Services |
|
|
|
| Disk Archive |
|
|
|
| Google Cloud |
|
|
|
| Microsoft Azure |
|
|
|
| OpenStack |
|
|
|
| Oracle Cloud Infrastructure |
|
|
|
| QEMU Image |
|
|
|
| RHEL Installer |
|
|
|
| VMware vSphere |
|
|
|
| VMware vSphere |
|
|
|
| Vagrant |
|
|
|
| Windows Subsystem for Linux |
|
|
|
To check the supported types, run the command:
image-builder list
# image-builder list1.3. Supported architectures for image builds
RHEL image builder supports building images for several architectures.
The supported architectures include:
-
AMD and Intel 64-bit (
x86_64) -
ARM64 (
aarch64) -
IBM Z (
s390x) -
IBM POWER systems (
ppc64)
However, RHEL image builder does not support multi-architecture builds. It only builds images of the same system architecture that it is running on. For example, if RHEL image builder is running on an x86_64 system, it can only build images for the x86_64 architecture.
'%20d='M201.5%20305.5c-13.8%200-24.9-11.1-24.9-24.6%200-13.8%2011.1-24.9%2024.9-24.9%2013.6%200%2024.6%2011.1%2024.6%2024.9%200%2013.6-11.1%2024.6-24.6%2024.6zM504%20256c0%20137-111%20248-248%20248S8%20393%208%20256%20119%208%20256%208s248%20111%20248%20248zm-132.3-41.2c-9.4%200-17.7%203.9-23.8%2010-22.4-15.5-52.6-25.5-86.1-26.6l17.4-78.3%2055.4%2012.5c0%2013.6%2011.1%2024.6%2024.6%2024.6%2013.8%200%2024.9-11.3%2024.9-24.9s-11.1-24.9-24.9-24.9c-9.7%200-18%205.8-22.1%2013.8l-61.2-13.6c-3-.8-6.1%201.4-6.9%204.4l-19.1%2086.4c-33.2%201.4-63.1%2011.3-85.5%2026.8-6.1-6.4-14.7-10.2-24.1-10.2-34.9%200-46.3%2046.9-14.4%2062.8-1.1%205-1.7%2010.2-1.7%2015.5%200%2052.6%2059.2%2095.2%20132%2095.2%2073.1%200%20132.3-42.6%20132.3-95.2%200-5.3-.6-10.8-1.9-15.8%2031.3-16%2019.8-62.5-14.9-62.5zM302.8%20331c-18.2%2018.2-76.1%2017.9-93.6%200-2.2-2.2-6.1-2.2-8.3%200-2.5%202.5-2.5%206.4%200%208.6%2022.8%2022.8%2087.3%2022.8%20110.2%200%202.5-2.2%202.5-6.1%200-8.6-2.2-2.2-6.1-2.2-8.3%200zm7.7-75c-13.6%200-24.6%2011.1-24.6%2024.9%200%2013.6%2011.1%2024.6%2024.6%2024.6%2013.8%200%2024.9-11.1%2024.9-24.6%200-13.8-11-24.9-24.9-24.9z'/%3e%3c/svg%3e){kind=small}