Software images are stored copies of ready-to-use servers that the IBM Cloud system uses to build new servers for you. They are created by taking a snapshot of a running server. To take full advantage of the cloud, you will likely want to create images of the cloud servers you have customised to fit your needs.

To help you get started, IBM has built and maintains two kinds of 'public' software images that you can use to build servers: standalone operating system images and images with an operating system, plus the functionality of selected IBM and third-party software.

The operating system images include:

• Linux® operating systems; Red Hat and Novell SUSE, plus
• Windows Server® 2003 and 2008

Download this list (PDF, 49KB) to see a short description of each image.

The software images from the list above are licensed using one or more of the following models:

PAYG: Pay as you go, by the hour
BYOL: Bring your own license, for software that you hold a prepaid license for
DUO: Development use only, at no charge for eligible ISVs and SIs.
Pre-release: available on a temporary basis for test (non-productive) use at no charge.

How to create a private image on the Cloud:

• Pick a standard public cloud image
  IBM has created a catalog of images of preconfigured and tested servers. Choose one of these public images as a starting point for building servers customised to your needs.
• Customize the server
  Start up a server with the public image you have chosen and customise it by adjusting settings and installing any additional software.
• Save it as a private image
  Save a copy of the server as a private image, to which only you have access. You can then safely shut down the server and restart one or more identical copies of it later. You reduce costs by not running servers you are not using and by not rebuilding servers manually.
• Share the image with other users of your cloud account
  You can choose to share the image with other users of your cloud account. The images are stored on persistent storage managed by the IBM Cloud system for as long as you choose to keep them. This helps your organisation standardise its server environments.
• Customise your private image further as it is provisioned
  You can apply software bundles with additional code and configuration settings to the image as part of the provisioning process, making private images an even more powerful standardisation tool.

If you build a ‘private’ image from one of the ‘public’ images, the licensing model and any charges also apply to servers built from your ‘private’ image. Operating system charges are included in the virtual machine per hour price.