Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) with Windows 7, Windows Server, and Office 2010 delivers a seamless user experience, streamlined application deployment and simplified application management.  App-V helps transform applications into centrally managed virtual services to reduce the cost of application deployment, eliminate application conflicts and reboots, simplify your base image footprint to expedite PC provisioning, and increase user productivity.

App-V 4.5 Service Pack 2  provides the latest updates to Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 code line. This is the first time the team has delivered via Windwows Update App-V 4.5 SP2 introduces:

• Enhanced failover protection or disaster recovery of your virtual application infrastructure: App-V data-store failover protection enables administrators to quickly recover from disasters and/or recycle servers for maintenance.
• Enable highly available application infrastructure: App-V 4.5 SP2 load balanced management servers can now leverage SQL server mirrored data-store to support high availability scenarios for line of business applications; with automatic failover protection not available with the previous versions of App-V. 
• Data replication is now possible across geography: this enables organizations to recover from site wide failures faster.
• App-V 4.5 SP2 clients can now deploy Office 2010.

To learn more about this release please view the App-V 4.5 SP2 release notes and FAQ.

App-V 4.5 SP2 can be deployed immediately to production and is available via Microsoft Update to MDOP customers and through Microsoft Volume Licensing Site (MVLS).  If you want to evaluate MDOP, the MDOP software is available at MSDN and TechNet.

To learn more about App-V you can visit the MDOP homepage and App-V TechCenter.

Previously in this blog, I’ve described how Microsoft® Application Virtualization (App-V) and Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) can not only help streamline the deployment of the Windows® 7 operating system but also help simplify the maintenance of the desktop environment after deployment. These are definitely big products, and they offer a huge potential to save you time and money. These are also the products that first pop in to many people’s minds when they think about the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP).

MDOP is more than just App-V and MED-V, however. Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) and the Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT)—also part of MDOP—are no slouches. In fact, considering how little time and effort it takes to deploy both of these products, and how easy they are to use, they offer a pretty big bang for the buck. Put another way: Their return on investment is huge.

Advanced Group Policy Management

In terms of the Windows 7 deployment lifecycle, AGPM fits neatly into the maintenance phase—or Operate phase, in Microsoft Operations Framework parlance—of the deployment project. Most likely, you’ll be working with Group Policy after deploying Windows 7. Why not use the opportunity to take control of your organization’s GPOs by using AGPM?

All IT pros are aware of Group Policy, but if you’re moving from Windows XP to Windows 7, you might not know how far along it’s come and how great a tool it can be for managing your environment. By using Group Policy, you can define settings for Windows to enforce. For example, you can configure and deploy power-management settings to the computers in your organization, preventing users from changing those settings. Of course, most IT pros think of security settings when they think of Group Policy, and Group Policy certainly gives you a lot of flexibility and control of those settings, too.

Group Policy isn’t just a terrific way to enforce configurations, though. Because it enables you to configure user and computer settings automatically, it’s also a great way to get closer to the dream of replaceable PCs. Group Policy preferences bring you even closer to that dream, letting you manage settings, files, printers, and much more. You can even choose whether to enforce those settings or allow users to change them after you’ve configured them (hence the name preferences).

On its own, Group Policy is an excellent infrastructure for managing your environment, but Group Policy doesn’t provide many features for managing itself. It doesn’t provide a role-based workflow. That is, Group Policy doesn’t have a formal, built-in edit, review, approval, and deployment process.

AGPM adds the missing role-based delegation to Group Policy. You can delegate reviewer, editor, and approver roles per domain or per GPO. Additionally, AGPM gives you a workflow to manage the creation, editing, and deployment of GPOs in production. You can even edit and test GPOs offline, in a test lab, then easily move those GPOs into production and deploy them. Of course, AGPM provides version control for GPOs. Not only does version control let you audit changes, it also lets you quickly roll back changes that fail in production.

Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset

DaRT fits as well in the deployment phase as it does in the maintenance phase of a Windows 7 deployment project. Throughout the development of Windows 7, Microsoft focused closely on the fundamentals. As a result, Windows 7 is a very stable and reliable operating system, but even the most stable operating systems have issues from time to time. During deployment, you can use DaRT to troubleshoot computers that won’t start. After deployment, you can use DaRT for additional troubleshooting, as necessary.

DaRT is very easy to set up. It doesn’t even leave a footprint on your infrastructure. You install DaRT on your desktop computer, create boot media, then use that boot media to start computers that you’re troubleshooting. For example, if a computer fails to start because of a faulty device driver, you can start the computer with DaRT (leaving the installed Windows operating system offline), use the Crash Analyzer tool to find the faulty device driver, and use Computer Management to disable the device driver. Then, you can start the installed Windows operating system on the computer.

And troubleshooting computers that fail to start isn’t DaRT’s only capability. DaRt includes a number of tools that are useful when you want to work offline. For example, you can use DaRT to scan a computer for malware, recover deleted files, or disable unwanted services. Suppose a user has forgotten the password for a local account. You can use DaRT to reset that password.

Getting started with both AGPM and DaRT is simple. In fact, I encourage you to give both a try in a test environment. You can easily evaluate both products by using virtual machines. Existing MDOP customers can download AGPM and DaRT as part of MDOP at the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC), MSDN®, and TechNet. You could be up and running with each in under an hour.

Whew! The Microsoft® Management Summit is behind me and I can start looking forward to our 10-city bus tour. On a similar tour through Europe last year, we had a great time telling everyone we met about the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) and how it can make your life much easier (and make you a hero in your organization). The tour starts in May; I’ll definitely tell you more about it as the date gets a bit closer.

In the meantime, I wanted to pick up where I left off in my last blog post. Previously, I described how Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) can help streamline the deployment process. Sequencing for App-V—a process that’s similar to packaging applications such as .msi files—is straightforward. Deploying sequenced applications can be as simple as assigning them to users. Certainly, using App-V to deploy applications is far more efficient and less painful than using traditional repackaging techniques and including them in an image or using a distribution system.

The story doesn’t end there, however. App-V continues to add value even after your deployment has been stabilized and moving to a maintenance phase. App-V can help you better manage the application inventory. For example, imagine that you need to recall an application after deployment. Without automation, you must manually remove applications from each computer. Even with automation, you can never be sure that applications were completely removed; they leave footprints on the computer.

In contrast, App-V applications have no footprint. They are virtualized, so completely removing an application is as easy as removing the assignment. Afterward, the application is no longer available to the user—as if the application was never installed in the first place.

Because virtualized applications don’t have footprints, they’re also easy to update: Simply sequence the new version, and add it. App-V seamlessly updates the application, without affecting users, requiring downtime, or demanding a reboot. From users’ perspectives, the new version appears automatically the next time they launch the application. Compare this scenario to the process of updating applications in images (time-consuming) or deploying new versions of applications by using a software distribution system (disruptive).

As if streamlining application management wasn’t enough, App-V can have a more-direct impact to your organization’s bottom line. By using metering rules in App-V, you can better understand the licenses used versus the total number of licenses purchased. Metering rules can help organizations that want to ensure compliance with their vendors avoid over-purchasing licenses.

If you haven’t looked at App-V in a while, now’s the time to do so—especially if you’re already engaged in a Windows® 7 deployment project. Microsoft recently released App-V 4.6, which has several improvements, including:

·         Support for true 64-bit applications

·         Support for  desktops and servers running 64-bit Windows

·         Integration with Windows 7 AppLocker™, BitLocker® Drive Encryption, and BranchCache™

·         Thirteen new languages to support global businesses

App-V and Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) are big products, and sometimes they cast a big shadow over smaller MDOP features such as Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) and the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT). Both AGPM and DaRT can help make your job as an IT pro easier, though. AGPM provides a role-based workflow to Group Policy management. DaRT provides a powerful set of troubleshooting tools that can help you diagnose and fix problems with Windows 7 offline. Both products are incredible easy to deploy and use. I’ll provide more details about them in my next post.

After recently spending a week in Nashville and Dallas, talking to folks about desktop virtualization, I’m getting back from the Microsoft® Management Summit in Las Vegas. It seems like a terrible shame to spend a week in Las Vegas locked up in a conference room, giving demos and presentations , but the blue guys had to wait. For now, I want to continue talking about the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), and how it can help make the move to the Windows® 7 operating system a bit easier.

In my last blog post, I described how MDOP can help you plan for Windows 7. For example, you can build an inventory to help you choose which applications you want to leave behind, making the transition less cluttered. You can build this inventory by using the Microsoft Asset Inventory Service (AIS). You can also use Microsoft System Center Desktop Error Monitoring (DEM) to help monitor the impact of your Windows 7 migration.

After the planning phase, a Windows 7 deployment project moves to the development phase. Whether or not that phase is formal in your organization, MDOP can help make it easier.

Managing application compatibility is one of the most painful and time-consuming parts of desktop deployment. Using AIS to build an inventory, and then rationalizing the inventory to reduce its size, is the first step in reducing the pain. But most organizations still go through the tedious process of testing each application and mitigating issues.

MDOP provides a different option. Instead of testing and mitigating each application on Windows 7, you can use Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (Med-V) to deploy unverified applications. After you’ve rolled out Windows 7 and caught your breath, you can revisit those applications: testing their compatibility with Windows 7, mitigating any issues you find, and deploying them natively. By using this strategy, you can move to Windows 7 more quickly, skipping much of the pain associated with application compatibility.

Application packaging and deployment is another chore. For a large-scale deployment project, you need to automate the deployment and configuration of many—too many—applications. First, you repackage applications so that they install and configure themselves silently. After testing them, you must decide how to deploy them: by including them in your image or by using products such as Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007. How you package and deploy these applications also has a significant impact on the maintenance experience later. (I’ll discuss this topic more deeply in my next blog post.)

MDOP has a feature to help improve this aspect of deployment, too: Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V). Our customers say that packaging applications for use with App-V (a process called sequencing) is easier and quicker than packaging the applications for native deployment. It isn’t uncommon to sequence a large application in less than an hour. However, the big win for App-V is deployment. Using App-V to deploy applications can be far easier than other deployment methods. For example, after sequencing an application, deploying it is as simple as assigning the application to a user or group. Recalling the application is just as easy, and App-V enables you to update applications without interrupting users.

Microsoft provides numerous free, powerful deployment tools for Windows 7. The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 is the most notable example. For our Software Assurance customers that already license MDOP, I encourage you to dust it off and consider the value that it can add to these tools. In my next blog post, I’ll describe MDOP features that can help you better manage your organization’s desktop computers after Windows 7 deployment. For more information about how MDOP fits into the desktop deployment process, see Optimizing Windows 7 Deployment with MDOP.