In this session we will introduce the ibmichroot (IBM i Chroot) open source project. Think of this technology being similar to being able to create a bunch of micro instances of IBM i all on a single instance of IBM i. This is accomplished by using PASE's chroot utility and is what I'm terming "IFS Containers".
This technology is excellent for those running applications in PASE (i.e. Node.js, Ruby, Python, PHP). It will keep PASE applications completely separate from one another so there is no toe stepping. I often use this technology for creating separate environments for development, testing, staging and production.
Further, the ibmichroot project facilitates the download and install of AIX binaries from perzl.org. perzl.org hosts hundreds of open source programs from the Linux world that have been made to work on AIX. Some of the more notable ones include: gcc, Git, Nginx, joe (server-side editor), bash, zsh, Perl, bzip2, ghostscript, Ruby and many more. Having these tools on IBM i brings about a new level of parity with other platforms.
On final note, yum support was recently added to the ibmichroot project and we will be talking about how that is a game changer for IBM i and open source.
In this session we will learn the following:
- What are containers and how are they used
- Learn about chroot command
Manual chroot IFS Container creation - Introduce IBM i Chroot project and how to install it
- Creating new IFS Containers using IBM i Chroot project
- Learn about pre-packaged IFS Container configurations and how to make your own
- How to install open source packages