Moving from ICLE to ICE-Linux

Additionally, as noted above, ICE-Linux added the capability for you to register and to use your own
installation configuration files (Kickstart or AutoYaST files) to gain the ultimate level of control of your
servers’ installation processes. ICE-Linux provides a few macros to use in these files, to allow their
integration into the installation tools that form the core of the ICE-Linux provisioning capabilities.
Figure 1. ICE-Linux Repository Tool
Capture and Deploy
Three major improvements were made to the OS capture and deploy imaging capabilities of ICE-
Linux, as compared to their counterparts in ICLE:
1. Logical Volume Manager (LVM) Support
2. Captured Image Format
3. New Graphical Partitioning Wizard
ICLE had no support for capturing (or deploying) an OS that used LVM. ICE-Linux corrects this
limitation by capturing any LVM information and storing it within the image’s meta-data. On
deployment, you may choose either to use the same partitioning scheme or to use the partition wizard
to create a new one. The only limitation to this capability is that the captured image must have all
required kernel modules and tools necessary for such support—if the captured image does not include
the requisite LVM kernel modules and file system tools, the deployment of that image to a scheme that
uses LVM will fail.
Captured images in ICLE were stored using a tool called pax. ICE-Linux uses the more commonly-
known tar utility. While it is possible to extract a pax image, and re-create a new tar -based
image, the meta-data required by ICE-Linux is not readily available, making the task of migrating
images between the two products difficult. The section titled Migrating Captured Images
details the
process for re-deploying an ICLE image and capturing it with ICE-Linux.
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Figure 1 ICE-Linux Graphical Partitioning Wizard for Image Deployment