===== Custom images  =====

==== Introduction ====
To simplify usage of the de.NBI cloud custom images are provided. These images contain an operating system (OS) and preinstalled software/tools required for different bioinformatic applications. By launching a virtual machine (VM) based on a custom image, specific bioinformatic analyses can be performed without having to take care of installation procedures.

==== ASA³P ====
The bacterial genome analysis pipeline ASA³P (**a**utomatic and **s**calable bacterial genome **a**ssembly, **a**nnotation and **a**nalysis **p**ipeline) can be used with a custom cloud image. For scalability reasons, a custom SUN Grid Engine (SGE) cluster is created inside the cloud allowing a scalable usage of ASA³P. For this, the software //BiBiGrid// (developed by the University of Bielefeld) was used. Finally, creation and termination of the cluster as well as the execution of ASA³P is automated in form of a shell script.

As an SGE cluster usually consists of a master and several slave nodes, two custom ASA³P images have been created. Both images are based on Ubuntu 14.04 and contain all software and libraries required to run ASA³P. Furthermore, the images were modified with the tool //bibigrid-image// for compatibility with //BiBiGrid//. The master and slave images were built by creating a snapshot from modified VMs.