We should use RHEL 6: http://aws.amazon.com/amis/4238219800231432?_encoding=UTF8&queryArg=searchQuery&x=0&fromSearch=1&y=0&searchPath=amis&searchQuery=rhel%205.5 Amazon AWS has a Java SDK. Rackspace has a RESTful API for provisioning machines, but no Java SDK. http://docs.rackspace.com/servers/api/v1.0/cs-devguide/content/index.html
gwestersf/CloudPodBuilder
A framework for declaratively building pods of virtual machines in a cloud agnostic way. Will first support Amazon AWS, then Rackspace.