1. A system for generating a virtual server image suitable for cloud deployment, comprising: a computer including a processor, memory and operating system; a memory space for creating a virtual server image; and wherein the appliance builder is used to generate a virtual server image containing both the software application and a virtual machine capable of executing the software application, including performing the steps comprising reading an appliance configuration file, writing a bootable component of a Java virtual machine into the virtual server image, writing a non-bootable component of a Java virtual machine, together with the software application into the virtual server image, configuring the bootable component to load and execute the non-bootable component.