Creating a custom Linux image in IBM Cloud

To create a custom image for Linux®, manually order an IBM® Cloud compute instance with a base OS image for Linux. Then, customize the instance by installing IBM Spectrum Symphony.

1. Order a virtual server, select an appropriate configuration for the server, and submit the order.
2. Use SSH to log on to the instance that you created as root.
   For example:

   ssh 192.0.2.3 -l root

3. Update the /etc/hosts file on the IBM Cloud host to add the host names of the primary host and primary host candidates in your IBM Spectrum Symphony cluster.
   If the ego.conf file in your cluster uses a short name for the primary host, add the short name of the host as well. For example:

   cat /etc/hosts
   198.51.100.4 localhost.localdomain localhost
   192.0.2.3 symcompute.ibmcloud.com symcompute
   192.0.2.5 symprimary.mycompany.com symprimary

   If an external DNS is not available, you can configure the ServiceDirector in IBM Spectrum Symphony as an internal DNS server (see Running IBM Spectrum Symphony without external DNS).

4. Copy the IBM Spectrum Symphony Linux package (for example, sym-version_architecture.bin) to this IBM Cloud instance.
   For example:

   scp sym-version_architecture.bin root@192.0.2.3:/root/

5. Install IBM Spectrum Symphony on the instance as a compute host.
   1. Install IBM Spectrum Symphony (see Installing on a Linux compute host), for example:

      export BASEPORT=30600
      export CLUSTERADMIN=root
      export CLUSTERNAME=cloud
      export DERBY_DB_HOST=symcompute.ibmcloud.com
      export SIMPLIFIEDWEM=N
      export EGOCOMPUTEHOST=Y
      export IBM_SPECTRUM_SYMPHONY_LICENSE_ACCEPT=Y
      ./sym-version_architecture.bin

   2. Source the environment for your shell; for example, when you use BASH, enter:

      . $EGO_TOP/profile.platform

   3. Join the instance to the cluster (see Adding a host to a cluster); for example, enter:

      egoconfig join primary_host

6. From the Devices > Device List > Device Details page in the IBM Cloud portal, click Create Image Template to create an image template with IBM Spectrum Symphony preinstalled. Remember this template name to be defined as the imageID for IBM Cloud provisioning.

   After the image is created, you can manage it from Devices > Manage > Images.