My first software appliance is complete! After developing the Simple Machines Forum package for Conary, testing it repeatedly to ensure the new forum could be configured and installed using no more than SMF's native PHP tools, I wrapped it in with the Apache, PHP, and MySQL components needed to support it. It's now available for download at rBuilder Online.

Download the image type that matches your deployment environment.
--OR--
Launch an instance of the Amazon Machine Image using this AMI ID: ami-1e836677

Some of the advantages of using SMF as an appliance include:
* Providing a completely installed forum ready for its own simple configuration immediately after appliance deployment
* Providing a dedicated system for the forum while making as small a footprint as possible by the OS and supporting software
* Providing the option to deploy on dedicated hardware or as a virtual appliance on one of many popular hypervisors
* Isolating the single application from other applications (which helps ease the mind of those more concerned about security issues, such as with PHP)
* Sparing the administrator any need to open command line access to the system (administration tools are included in the form of the rPath Appliance Platform)

Check out the wiki page for instructions, information, and some of my reflections about the process in the developer notes section.

Sidenote: One of the perks of working at rPath is my easy access to some of the resources, mostly in the form of the people I work with. I'd like to thank Elliot for his help in setting me up for testing and identifying some methods I could use to overcome some of the sticking points.