The App-V Blog : Manual

Where to find the App-V Documentation

jchornbe — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:22:56 GMT

We’ve received some feedback that people may be unfamiliar with the location of the App-V 4.5 documentation, so if you’re wondering what documentation exists for the Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 products and where to find this on Technet, read on.

The core documentation set includes:

Release Notes

Online Help for Client, Server and Sequencer

Planning & Deployment Guide

Operations Guide

These documents are written and kept up to date by myself and my team of technical writers and we welcome comments, questions and suggestions to help us produce the best possible documentation for you. If you find anything missing or incorrect, or would just like to provide feedback for new content, we have made available a public email alias (appvdocs@microsoft.com) you can use. We also monitor the App-V Documentation Forum on Technet so that’s another way to provide feedback to us.

In addition, on the Application Virtualization TechCenter home page you’ll find links to other information resources including the “Upgrading to 4.5 FAQ”, White Papers and blogs.

Peter Ballantyne

App-V client refresh results in error code: xxxxxx-xxxxxx2A-0000274D

jchornbe — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:46:00 GMT

I was talking to App-V Support Engineer John Behneman the other day about some of the more popular cases and what kinds of issues those folks were seeing and he tells me about how common it is for new App-V admins to accidentally install more than one...(read more)

MS App Virtualization: The four PKG file system volumes

jchornbe — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:15:50 GMT

This may be old news to some of you but it has proven to be so popular that I thought it was worth a mention here. This is a topic that came up on the forum a month or two back but I'll post it here to save you the trip. Basically someone asked how the PKG mechanism worked and Chris Lord, a Senior Program Manager for Microsoft Application Virtualization, posted this response:

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If you'd like to read the thread in its entirety see http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2880423&SiteID=17.

J.C. Hornbeck | Manageability Knowledge Engineer

TechNet Virtual Lab: Microsoft SoftGrid General Troubleshooting

jchornbe — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:38:44 GMT

Are you new to this whole application virtualization thing and looking for some tips on how to troubleshoot some common issues? If so then look no more because we have a virtual lab that will get you started on your way to tracking down and fixing some of these problems you may be struggling with today. The description and a link is below.

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Language: English.

Product: System Center.

Audience: IT Professionals.

Duration: 90 Minutes

Start Date: Friday, January 25, 2008 12:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)

Event Overview

In this lab, you will learn how to troubleshoot sequenced applications using common utilities. After completing this lab you will be able to create a package troubleshooting environment, use File Monitor to repair a package that is missing file(s), and use Process Monitor to add registry keys.

For more information see https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032367800&EventCategory=3&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US.

J.C. Hornbeck | Manageability Knowledge Engineer

Process Monitor - Hands-On Labs and Examples

jchornbe — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:12:25 GMT

Introduction

Process Monitor is a troubleshooting and data collection tool used by many systems administrators as well as Microsoft’s support organization. The goal of this post is to help you gain hands-on experience using this valuable troubleshooting tool and subsequently to facilitate progress towards resolving virtualization issues with your apps should they be encountered.

Most of the content in this document consists of three troubleshooting examples that represent three common types of issues that you may encounter. The first example provides Process Monitor basics, including the critically important filtering capabilities of the tool. The two subsequent examples further utilize the techniques described in the first example. Please note that example two and three do not repeat detailed instructions that are presented in example one. In other words, don't skip example one.

Much of the information presented here comes from various sources available via Microsoft’s public sites; it is just packaged and presented in a different way. Resource links are provided at the end of this document.

Process Monitor Defined

Process Monitor is an advanced monitoring tool for Windows that shows real-time File System, Registry and Process/Thread activity. It combines the features of two legacy Sysinternals utilities, Filemon and Regmon. Its uniquely powerful features make Process Monitor a core utility for system troubleshooting.

The Sysinternals web site was created in 1996 by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell to host their advanced system utilities and technical information. Microsoft acquired Sysinternals in July, 2006.

Process Monitor Requirements

OS Requirements: Windows 2000 SP4 with Update Rollup 1, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1 or Windows Vista

Process Monitor Enhancements over Filemon and Regmon

Configurable boot time logging of all operations
Non-destructive filters allow you to set filters without losing data
Can log data to a file instead of in process virtual memory
Configurable and moveable columns for any event property
Advanced logging architecture scales to tens of millions of captured events, gigabytes of log data
Monitoring of process and thread startup and exit, including exit status codes
Monitoring of image (DLL and kernel-mode device driver) loads
More data captured for operation input and output parameters
Capture of thread stacks make it possible to identify the root cause of an operation
Reliable capture of process details, including image path, command line, user and session ID
Filters can be set for any data field, including fields not configured as columns
Process tree tool shows relationship of all processes referenced in a trace
Native log format preserves all data for loading in a different Process Monitor instance
Process tooltip for easy viewing of process image information
Detail tooltip allows convenient access to formatted data that doesn't fit in the column
Cancellable search

Installation Instructions and Launch Experience

You do not install Process Monitor. You simply download the zip file, extract the zip file contents (EULA.txt, procmon.chm, procmon.exe) to a folder of your choice, and double click on Procmon.exe to launch the tool. When Process Monitor launches you may need to grant permission to run the tool depends on the User Account Control setting running on the computer. Process Monitor can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/processesandthreads/processmonitor.mspx.

As soon as Process Monitor appears it will start capturing File, Registry, and Process/Thread information. To stop or start data capturing activity, click on the “Capture” button, shown below:

Troubleshooting Example 1 - Registry Settings Search

(Can be done on any OS that supports Process Monitor)

There are times when you want to identify where in the registry that application settings are stored. Knowing where in the registry this information is stored will allow you do things like scan all computers in the environment for a setting that should be in place. If the setting is not there on a particular computer you can target the computer for subsequent mitigation activity.

To demonstrate how Process Monitor can be used to identify where application settings are stored we will use Notepad.exe. Specifically, we want to identify where in the registry Font and Font Size settings are stored for the Notepad application.

Data Capture Steps:

1. Launch Process Monitor (procmon.exe) by double clicking it

2. Make sure Process Monitor is set to capture data; it should be by default. You can determine if Process Monitor is collecting data via the following ways:

a. Check that the “Capture” button does not have a red “X” over it. If it does have a red “X” over it simply click the capture button once to remove the “X”. This button is a toggle switch that will stop and start the capture of data.

b. Check that events are being captured by viewing status information in the lower left corner of Process Monitor. If the tool is capturing data, the numbers displayed as “Showing ‘X’ of ‘Y’ events” will be incrementing upward.

3. Launch Notepad

4. Enter some text into the Notepad document

5. Click on the Format menu and then on the Font menu item

a. In the Font window change the Font to “Batang”
b. In the Font window change the Size to “28”
c. Click on the “Ok” button

6. Save the Notepad document as Example1.txt

7. Close Notepad

8. Stop Process Monitor capture activity by clicking on the “Capture” button shown above in step 2a (the icon should now show an “X” over the magnifying glass)

At this point we have captured File, Registry, and Process/Thread activity during a Font and Font Size change in Notepad.exe in addition to all other activity occurring on the machine during the capture period. As such, we no longer need Notepad running and we do not need Process Monitor to capture any more data. That is why we closed Notepad and stopped Process Monitor from capturing additional data.

Data Review Steps:

The goal of this review is to identify where Notepad.exe stores Font and Font Size information in the registry. Process Monitor captures a lot of data in a short period of time; over a hundred thousand events can be captured in under a minute. Thankfully, the filtering capabilities of Process Monitor will allow us to quickly zone in on the data we are looking for. The real troubleshooting value of Process Monitor is realized via filtering.

1. Since we are only interested in Registry information, we will filter out File and Process information by deselecting the “Show File System Activity” and “Show Process and Thread Activity” buttons. Simply click on these buttons, which function like toggle switches.

Notice that once you deselect File and Process information, the display window only shows operations of type “Reg…” under the Operations column. You can toggle File and Process information on and off and not worry about losing any captured data. All filtering in Process Monitor is non-destructive.

2. You can filter information in two ways. One way is to filter the displayed capture data on the fly. You do this by moving over a line item in the display area and right clicking. This brings up a floating menu that allows you to “Include” and/or “Exclude" displayed data.

In this case, we know we are looking for a Process Name of Notepad.exe. So, right click over any line item that has something other than “Notepad.exe” under the “Process Name” column and select “Exclude” in the floating menu. A subsequent floating window appears that displays a list of the column names; select “Process Name” from this list. The result is that all line items with the Process Name you highlighted via right clicking disappear from the display window. Do this for several other Process Names other than “Notepad.exe”.

3. The second way to filter is to use the “Process Monitor Filter” window. This window allows you to review existing filters, remove existing filters and to add new filters. Click on the “Filter” menu on the toolbar and then on the “Filter…” menu item to launch the “Process Monitor Filter” window.

Select “Process Name” from the Column list box
Select “is” from the Relation list box
Type “Notepad.exe” in the Value text box
Select “Include” from the Action list box
Click on the Add button
Click on Apply and OK

The resulting displayed windows will only show registry information for Notepad.exe; still a lot of data, but we are getting closer.

4. Now, we know we are looking for some type of registry operation that sets or writes a value, specifically the Font and Font size values. So, per the instructions in step 2 above, perform on the fly filtering to exclude operations circled below:

In short, right click over “RegOpenKey”, click “Exclude”, and click “Operation”. Repeat this process for the other three operations shown above (RegQueryValue, RegCloseKey, and RegEnumValue).

5. This should leave us with a relatively small set of captured data in the display window. Scroll through the remaining data to find an Operation called “RegSetValue”; this operation sounds appropriate. So, perform on the fly filtering, by right clicking on a “RegSetValue” line item, but instead of clicking on “Exclude” click on “Include”, and then on “Operation”.

6. With only registry information for the RegSetValue operation of the Notepad.exe process showing in the display window, we have really narrowed our search down. Now, scroll through the displayed data and pay attention to the “Detail” column and the “Path” column. While scrolling through the data, you will notice a registry path that looks appropriate (HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Notepad) and will find the word Batang associated with the IfFaceName key.

7. To go to the registry location identified under the Path column, highlighted above, right click on the path and click on the “Jump To…” menu item. The Registry Editor will open and you will find all of the format settings for Notepad including IfFaceName (Font) and iPointSize (Font Size).

8. Before closing Process Monitor reset the filters by clicking on the “Filter” menu in the toolbar and then on “Reset Filter”.

You have completed Example 1, congratulations.

Troubleshooting Example 2 – Registry Permissions

(Example must be done on a Vista machine)

Sometimes incorrect permissions on registry keys can prevent users from running an application or a utility. If permissions on a registry key are the cause of an application launch failure, uninstalling and reinstalling may not solve the problem. Using Process Monitor to identify the real cause of the application launch failure may save considerable time and frustration.

To demonstrate how Process Monitor can be used to identify what is preventing an application from launching we will use PsList.exe. PsList is a tool that lets you view detailed information about processes. You will need to download PsList to work through this example. The tool is available via the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/PsList.mspx

PsList Setup

1. Download PsList via the link above and save it to “C:\temp”; note the download is a zip file.

2. Extract the zip file contents to its default location – “C:\temp\PsTools”

Problem Setup:

For this demonstration, you need to make sure that the “Authenticated Users” group has no permissions on the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib.

1. Open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)

2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib

3. Right click on the Perflib key and click on the “Permissions…” menu item

4. Review the list of “Groups or user names” to see if “Authenticated Users” is listed

a. If “Authenticated Users” is listed, highlight it and then click on the Remove button.
b. If “Authenticated Users” is not listed, do nothing

5. Close out of the registry editor.

Data Capture Steps:

1. Launch Process Monitor (procmon.exe) by double clicking it

2. Make sure Process Monitor is capturing data

3. Open a Command window

4. In the Command window type “C:\temp\PsTools\PsList”, without the quotes and hit Enter

Notice the result “Failed to take process snapshot on <computername>.

5. Minimize the command window and stop Process Monitor from capturing any more data.

Data Review Steps:

The goal of this review is to identify why PsList is failing to run. Process Monitor captures a lot of data in a short period of time; over a hundred thousand events can be captured in under a minute. Thankfully, the filtering capabilities of Process Monitor will allow us to quickly zone in on the data we are looking for. The real troubleshooting value of Process Monitor is realized via filtering.

At this point, we do not know where the problem resides. Unlike the Notepad example where we knew we were looking for Registry information, we will not be turning off any of the three major groups of data (File System, Registry, Process and Thread).

1. Since we know the process name we want to isolate (PsList.exe), let’s apply a filter via the Process Monitor Filter window to only show us PsList.exe.

Select “Process Name” from the Column selector list box
Select “is” from the Relation selector list box
Type “PsList.exe” in the Value text box
Select “Include” from the Action list box
Click on the Add button
Click on Apply and OK

2. Looking at display data we still see hundreds of events. If you look at the “Results” column you will see numerous types including a lot that are “Success”. Given that our application is failing to launch, we can safely assume that a result of Success is not what we are looking for. So, filter out all event Results that are Success via on the fly filtering. Right click over a line item that has Success under the Result column, click on Exclude, and then on Result.

3. This now leaves us with a little under one hundred events currently displayed. Manually scroll through the data and look from something that looks suspicious… You should see about five line items that have “Access Denied” under the Result column. Among all of the other events, this is most promising. So, filter out all other Result types via on the fly filtering. Right click over a line item that has Access Denied under the Result column, click on Include, and then on Result.

4. Review the details for the remaining display data. You will notice that the Operation being attempted is “RegOpenKey” and that the key in question is listed under the Path column: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib

5. Right click on the Path HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib and click on “Jump Too…”. This will open the Registry Editor and take us to the Perflib key.

6. Right click on the Perflib key, click on “Permissions…” and add “Authenticated Users” back, with Read permission. Close out of the Registry Editor.

7. Go back to the Command window and try running PsList again by typing “C:\temp\PsTools\PsList.exe”. It should now run without error.

8. Before closing Process Monitor reset the filters by clicking on the “Filter” menu in the toolbar and then on “Reset Filter”.

You have completed Example 2, congratulations.

Troubleshooting Example 3 – File Permissions

(Example must be done on a Vista machine)

Sometimes incorrect permissions on files can prevent users from running an application or a utility. If permissions on a file are the cause of an application launch failure, uninstalling and reinstalling may not solve the problem. Additionally, sometimes the errors messages generated during the application launch failure can be misleading. Using Process Monitor to identify the real cause of the application launch failure may save considerable time and frustration.

To demonstrate how Process Monitor can be used to identify what is preventing an application from launching we will use PurblePlace.exe. Purble Place is a game that comes with Windows Vista and is rated “E” for everyone.

Problem Setup:

For this demonstration, you need to make sure that the “Users” group has no permissions on the file PurblePlace.dll.

1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Purble Place”

2. Right click on the PurblePlace.dll and click on Properties. Then, click on the Security tab and the Edit button.

3. Review the list of “Groups or user names” to see if “Users” is listed

a. If “Users” is listed, highlight it and then click on the Remove button. Then, click on the Apply and OK buttons. Lastly, close out of the Properties window.
b. If “Users” is not listed, click on the Cancel button and close out of the Properties window.

4. Close Windows Explorer.

Data Capture Steps:

6. Launch Process Monitor (procmon.exe) by double clicking it

7. Make sure Process Monitor capturing data

8. Launch Purble Place by clicking on Start, Games, and Purble Place. The following error should be generated:

This is an example of a misleading error message, because the file does exist.

9. Stop Process Monitor from capturing any more data.

Data Review Steps:

The goal of this review is to identify why Purple Place is failing to run. Based on the error message that was generated, it appears that PurblePlace.dll is missing. We will review the data Process Monitor captured to uncover the truth. Process Monitor captures a lot of data in a short period of time; over a hundred thousand events can be captured in under a minute. Thankfully, the filtering capabilities of Process Monitor will allow us to quickly zone in on the data we are looking for. The real troubleshooting value of Process Monitor is realized via filtering.

At this point, we do not know where the problem resides. Unlike the Notepad example where we knew we were looking for Registry information in the beginning, we will not be turning off any of the three major groups of data (File System, Registry, Process and Thread).

1. Since the error message specified the file name “PurblePlace.dll”, let’s apply a filter via the Process Monitor Filter window to only show us events related to it.

Select “Path” from the Column selector list box
Select “contains” from the Relation selector list box
Type “PurblePlace.dll” in the Value text box
Select “Include” from the Action list box
Click on the Add button
Click on Apply and OK

2. As you can see from the resulting display data under the Path column, PurblePlace.dll was found. You also see that the application is getting an Access Denied result when it tries to do a Generic Read; sounds like a permission problem and not a missing file problem.

3. Let’s go fix the permissions of PurblePlace.dll. To do this, right click under the Path column on a line that shows the PurblePlace.dll and click on “Jump Too…”.

4. Right click on the PurblePlace.dll and click on Properties. Then, click on the Security tab and the Continue button (once more depending on the machine’s User Account Control settings).

5. In the Permissions windows click on the Add button, then type “Users”, and click OK. Lastly, click on Apply and OK

6. Now try launching Purble Place by clicking on Start, Games, and Purble Place. It should run without error.

7. Before closing Process Monitor reset the filters by clicking on the “Filter” menu in the toolbar and then on “Reset Filter”.

You have completed Example 3, congratulations.

Process Monitor / Sysinternals Resources

Webcast - Advanced Windows Troubleshooting with Process Monitor: https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032345496&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Process Monitor: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/processesandthreads/processmonitor.mspx

Process Monitor Forum: http://forum.sysinternals.com/

Windows Sysinternals: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx

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As you can see, Process Monitor can not only help troubleshoot regular application related issues but is invaluable when troubleshooting sequencing issues using Microsoft Application Virtualization (aka SoftGrid).

Enjoy!

Steven Rouleau | Technical Account Manager

The Microsoft Application Virtualization (Formerly SoftGrid) 4.5 Beta Trial Guide is Now Available!

jchornbe — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:18:48 GMT

Hello everyone! I thought I would drop a quick note to let you all know that the Trial Guide for Microsoft App Virt has been posted to the web at the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AA787491-8D08-4D2F-8960-9E9F00226C7E&displaylang=en.

This guide is based on the Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 beta and walks the user through utilizing the entire platform including some of the key new features. Scenarios include:

· Setting up a full management system for streaming delivery

· Combining that system with the streaming server

· Utilizing standalone mode with the MSI capabilities

· Sequencing two applications and delivering them across all of the mechanisms above.

Please use this link as it includes the instructions to get the beta from Microsoft Connect and then set it up for a useful test environment.

Enjoy!

The SoftGrid Team

SoftGrid Operations Guide - Part 2

jchornbe — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:49:04 GMT

As promised, here's part 2 of Brian Kelly's SoftGrid Operations Guide:

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3.3 Remove a Specific Application from a SoftGrid Client PC

The following procedure describes how to remove a specific application package from the SoftGrid cache on a client PC.

1. Open the SoftGrid Client Management Console (e.g., Start à Settings à Control Panel à Administrative Tools à SoftGrid Client Management).

2. Select the Application(s) object in the left window panel.

3. A- Right-click on the name of the application that you want to remove from the cache and select Unload from the drop-down menu. This maintains the application shortcuts and file associations.
or
B- Right-click on the name of the application that you want to remove completely and select Delete from the drop-down menu.

It is also possible to script application removal from the cache.

SFTMIME.EXE UNLOAD APP:”TextPad 4”

SFTMIME.EXE REMOVE APP:”TextPad 4” /COMPLETE

Note: You must have administrative rights on the client PC to fully remove the application from the SoftGrid client cache. If a user that lacks administrative rights the “Unload” and “Delete” commands will not be available. A non-administrator will have the option to “Clear” an application which will remove the program shortcuts and file types for the current user.

3.4 Purge All Virtualized Applications from a SoftGrid Client PC

The following command line will remove ALL applications and file types from the SoftGrid cache on a client PC:

sftmime.exe remove obj:app /global /complete

Note: The person running the above command must have administrative rights on the client PC.

3.5 Reset the SoftGrid Client Cache to a Clean State

Removing all applications from the SoftGrid client cache does not completely wipe the contents of the cache file now shrink the cache file.. It is rarely necessary, but sometimes useful when troubleshooting, to reset the SoftGrid client cache to the initial clean state. The following procedure describes how to reset the SoftGrid client cache:

1. Logon to the client PC with a user account that has administrative rights.

2. Launch the Registry Editor.

3. Set the following registry value to 0:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Softricity\SoftGrid Client\CurrentVersion\AppFS\State

4. Reboot the client PC.

3.6 Resizing the client cache through a script

The following procedure describes how to extend the maximum size of the SoftGrid client cache:

1. Create a logon or ESD script to set the following registry values:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Softricity\SoftGrid Client\CurrentVersion\AppFS\State
Value=0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Softricity\SoftGrid Client\CurrentVersion\AppFS\FileSize
Value=4096* *Desired maximum cache size in KB

2. Reboot the client PC for changes to take effect.

3.7 Terminal Server Best Practices

The following are specific to Terminal Server/Citrix environment.

· Always pre-load all applications that will be delivered through a particular Terminal Server. This will reduce latency for users. See Section 3.2 for details of scripting a solution.

· To relieve memory fragmentation, restart the client computer at least one time a month. Restart more frequently if the computer starts more than 1,500 applications per day.

· Set the Run Settings to “Do not show the SoftGrid Client” to allow a clean shutdown of the user profile. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Softricity\CurrentVersion\CustomSettings\TrayVisibility=0

4 SoftGrid Infrastructure Maintenance

This section provides information regarding SoftGrid infrastructure maintenance.

4.1 SoftGrid Log Files

This section describes several SoftGrid log files that contain information that can be helpful in troubleshooting issues with SoftGrid application delivery and execution.

Note: The SoftGrid software only writes events to the log files listed below. SoftGrid does not log events to the System Event log or Application Event log.

4.1.1 SoftGrid Server Log File

· The default location of the SoftGrid server log file follows:

%ProgramFiles%\Softricity\SoftGrid Server\logs\sft-server.log

The location of the server log file may differ depending on where the SoftGrid server software was installed.

To change the default logging level see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931584

4.1.2 SoftGrid Client Log Files

· The main log to consult is sftlog.txt. This log does not wrap around and therefore the size of this file should be monitored and reset if necessary. Sftlist.exe /resetlog will archive the logs current contents to sftlog000#.txt, increasing the number on each execution. A batch process can collect or delete these files. .

· The default locations of the log files for the SoftGrid client for Windows desktops follows:

%ProgramFiles%\Softricity\SoftGrid for Windows Desktops\sftlog.txt

To adjust the log level see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931803

· The default locations of the log files for the SoftGrid client for terminal servers follows:

%ProgramFiles%\Softricity\SoftGrid for Terminal Servers\sftlog.txt

4.1.3 SoftGrid Management Console Log File

· The default location of the log file for the SoftGrid Management Console follows:

%ProgramFiles%\Softricity\SoftGrid Management Console\sftMMC.log

The SoftGrid Management Console log file is disabled by default and must be enabled as follows:

1. If the SoftGrid Management Console is running, close it now.

2. Launch the Registry Editor.

3. Add the following DWORD registry value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Softricity\SoftGrid Management Console\LogLevel = 1

4. Exit the Registry Editor.

5. Launch SoftGrid Management Console.
Note: The log is only created when an error occurs.

4.2 SoftGrid Server Monitoring

The following SoftGrid server system resources should be proactively monitored to detect problems or trends indicating possible problems:

· CPU Utilization is within an acceptable limits

· Memory Utilization is within an acceptable limits

· Disk Utilization is within an acceptable limits

· Verify that the SoftGrid Virtual Application Service is running at all times

· Verify that three SFTCore.exe processes are running at all times

Note: The thresholds for acceptable CPU, Memory and Disk Utilization for a SoftGrid server are the same as for other Windows servers (e.g., file servers, web servers, etc.).

4.3 User Profiles

Where local profiles are used, no specific SoftGrid related profile maintenance should be required.

Where roaming profiles are used, the following recommendations should be considered:

· Configure the SoftGrid client to redirect virtualized user application settings to a centralized location such as a subdirectory in the user’s network home directory.

· Consider using the Microsoft User Profile Hive Cleanup (UPHClean) service to improve the stability of roaming user profiles (this is a general recommendation and is not specifically related to SoftGrid). The UPHClean service is available for free download from the following web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1B286E6D-8912-4E18-B570-42470E2F3582&displaylang=en

· Consider monitoring and if necessary running a script to occasionally clean out the Icon cache. Over time, orphaned icons can accumulate. By default, user specific icons are located in "%APPDATA%\SoftGrid Client\Icon Cache and global icons are located %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Documents\SoftGrid Client\Icon Cache.

4.4 Content Repository Management

Each SoftGrid server has a registry setting pointing to its Content Repository root and the SoftGrid database points to the location of each package. It is important that each SoftGrid server sees the Content Repository in a similar structure. There are different replication technologies that can accomplish this task. Whichever replication technology is used it is important that you are able to confirm that replication has completed to all SoftGrid servers before publishing an application. It can also be helpful to compare the states of the Content Repositories by using a directory compare tool such as comp.exe or Beyond Compare. Below are two replication topologies to consider.

· DFS

The following TechNet presentation provides a good “how-to” on architecting and configuring DFS-R. The presentation covers the use of the DFS-R GUI as well as the scripting interface which is most useful when implementing DFS-R on a large scale.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032289011&EventCategory=3&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Useful command line utilities:

DfsAdmin.exe The DfsAdmin.exe is new for the Distributed File System (DFS) in the Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 R2 operating system. Use this tool to administer DFS replication from the command line. The DfsrAdmin.exe tool is often used in scripts to configure and manage DFS replication.

DfsrDiag.exe The Dfsrdiag.exe is new for the Distributed File System (DFS) in the Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 R2 operating system. Dfsrdiag.exe is a command-line tool that can generate a backlog count or trigger a propagation test. Both show the state of replication. Propagation shows you if files are being replicated to all nodes. Backlog shows you how many files still need to replicate before two computers are in sync. The backlog count is the number of updates that a replication group member has not processed.

DfsUtil.exe DfsUtil.exe is a command-line tool used to configure DFS-N (namespaces). This tool is not necessary when DFS-R replication hierarchy will be setup without using DFS-N namespaces.

· DfsrAdmin.exe command line reference:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=49caf978-49e9-4eb6-9cc9-72b5dd160505&displaylang=en

· DfsUtil.exe command line reference:

http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/f/?en/library/ae08acaa-148d-41eb-a693-35d80c4590751033.mspx

· Robocopy

The following article addresses alternatives to DFS: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q160513/

4.4.1 Relocating the content directory

If the current content repository needs to be centralized or scaled up, it is possible to move the content directory to another location. Details are in the following article.

How to relocate the content directory for Microsoft SoftGrid
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930868

4.5 Database Backup and Restore

4.5.1 Backup

All the metadata for the SoftGrid environment is stored in the SoftGrid Database. This includes data about the published applications, file associations, licensing and package versioning. In addition, usage data is also stored in the database. The metadata is relatively small, often less than 10mb but the usage data is based on the number of users. Each application event (Launch or Shutdown) generates 1kb. So 1000 users launching 10 apps per day would generate about 20MBs a day.

It is recommended to keep the SoftGrid server logging set to its default level of “Warnings/Errors” and to not forward client log messages to the SoftGrid database.

A proper backup strategy would be to perform a complete backup nightly. You may also back up the database after any significant updates in the Management Console so as not to lose any publication or configuration changes.

In addition to backing up the database and log, you should also back up the Softricity Jobs and Alerts.

2.5.2 Restore

In the event of a disaster or the need to move to a new physical SQL server, the SoftGrid database can be restored. If you do not have a backup of master database, be sure to recreate the login information for the Domain\SoftGrid Administrators and the SOFTRICTY account. The following kb article references migrating to a new database server but also applies to a recovery situation. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932136/en-us

5 Finding Additional Information

5.1 Microsoft SoftGrid Knowledge Base

Microsoft has completed the process of migrating data off of the old Softricity knowledge base. The knowledge base contains useful information regarding planning, implementation and troubleshooting SoftGrid. A link to the Microsoft Knowledge Base follows:

http://support.microsoft.com

Error Code Formats: When searching the knowledge base for error codes, be aware that the first 12 digits are unique to the version of the SoftGrid client software. The ending 8 digits of the error code remain constant between all client versions.

When you search for an error code such as 410038-15601C2A-00002AFC, enter the last 8 digits 00002AFC.

5.2 SoftGrid Product Documentation

The main SoftGrid resource site is http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/softgrid/default.aspx.

SoftGrid user forums and blogs are here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/softgrid/bb676741.aspx

The following SoftGrid product documentation is available in PDF format.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940163/

· SoftGrid Client Installation Guide

· SoftGrid Quick Start Guide

· SoftGrid Sequencer Installation Guide

· SoftGrid Server Installation Guide

· SoftGrid Platform Administration Guide

· SoftGrid Sequencer Manual

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A big thanks to Brian Kelly for writing this up and letting me post it here. I hope you found the information helpful in making your job as a Microsoft Application Virtualization admin a little bit easier.

J.C. Hornbeck

SoftGrid Operations Guide - Part 1

jchornbe — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:56:43 GMT

Brian Kelly, one of our top gun SoftGrid tech guru's, recently put together a really cool SoftGrid operations guide that covers day-to-day procedures for managing and operating the SoftGrid infrastructure. Well, I guess technically it would now be a Microsoft Application Virtualization operations guide but breaking us of the 'SoftGrid' habit is going to be a slow, difficult process. Anyway, it's not one of those "official" type Microsoft docs so it's not out on the web anywhere but there's some good information in here that I think you'll find helpful. It's too big to post in a single shot so I'll break it up into two parts, one today and one tomorrow. Here's part 1:

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1 Introduction

This document is a draft for a SoftGrid Operations Guide for the Microsoft Virtual Application infrastructure. It provides day-to-day procedures for managing and operating the SoftGrid infrastructure.

2 Application Management Procedures

This section provides procedures for application packaging, deployment and updates.

2.1 Candidates for Virtualization

Thousands of applications have been sequenced so it is likely that your applications can be sequenced. However, some traits in an application can make it unsuitable or unable to be completely virtualized. For SoftGrid 4.1/4.2 these traits include:

· Applications that install and rely on a system-level driver, i.e. an application that installs a print driver or a USB device driver. It may be possible to separate and install, the driver portion of this application locally on the client system, allowing the other components of the application to be virtualized.

· Applications that install boot-time services.

· Applications that use COM+.

· Applications that require MAPI virtualization. For information on SoftGrid and Microsoft Office, see the following article:
939796 Prescriptive guidance for sequencing 2007 Office programs in Microsoft SoftGrid http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;939796

· Applications that use COM DLL surrogate virtualization, i.e. DLL’s that run in Dllhost.exe.

· Applications with licensing enforcement tied to the machine, e.g. the license is tied to the system’s MAC address. Branding may need to be done on each client.

It may still be possible to virtualize such applications if these components can be extracted and installed locally. We recommend you test the applications thoroughly to ensure they meet the expected level of functionality.

2.2 Microsoft Virtual Application Support Policies

Description of the support policy for versions of Office that are running in SoftGrid Application Virtualization
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939897

The support policy for third-party applications that run in a SoftGrid Application Virtualization environment
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940730

Support policy for Microsoft programs that are running in a third-party application or software redirection program or in a third-party application or software virtualization environment
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924287

Information about SoftGrid support for non-English-based configurations: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;935684

2.3 Sequence a New Application

Sequencing best practices should always be followed and are documented in KB 932137: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932137

Advanced guidance on sequencing can be found in the article Sequencing Guide posted on http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/default.aspx.

It is also highly recommended to keep searchable recipes to store the details of each package to facilitate management and upgrades.

2.4 Publish an Application

For general guidance on publishing applications, please see SoftGrid Platform Administration Guide (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940163/). The following section describes additional guidelines.

2.4.1 Validate the information in the package files before publishing the application.

If possible, perform these checks before placing the package in the master content repository to prevent wasted replication cycles. It is also beneficial to verify before publishing the package in the SoftGrid Management Console. For more information on content replication, see Section 4.4

1. Inspect the OSD file(s) in the application package to be published and verify the HREF, OS VALUE, NAME and VERSION tags.

HREF: Verify that the SoftGrid server hostname and <relative path to SFT file> portions of the HREF path are valid in your target environment. Hostname is resolved at stream time by the SoftGrid client to locate the SoftGrid server. A specific hostname, FQDN or an environment variable can be used to resolve to a single server or a load balanced farm. The <relative path to SFT file> is the relative path under the Content repository in which the package directory is located.

HREF="rtsp://Hostname:554/<relative path to SFT file>"

Below is an example of an HREF tag for an actual application where the client has an environment variable set %SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER%=Sgserver.corp.msft and the package files are located in .\Content\TextPad_Helios_473_MNT\:

HREF="rtsp://%SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER%:554/TextPad_Helios_473_MNT/ TextPad_Helios_473_MNT.sft"

Note: The SoftGrid client installer does not set the environment variable %SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER%. If you choose to use this method, the variable can be set through GPO or a login script.

NAME and VERSION: Verify these values as they will be used to identify the application in the SoftGrid database and on the SoftGrid client. The NAME value will be the display name of the published icon. The combination of NAME+VERSION must be unique in the SoftGrid database.

NAME="TextPad" VERSION="4.0.7.3"

OS VALUE: Verify that the list of target operating systems is correct. Application advertisements will only be delivered if the SoftGrid client’s operating system matches one in the list or if all the OS VALUE tags are removed.

2. Inspect the SPRJ file and verify the <SHORTCUT Path> tag(s) point to the correct names of the OSD file(s) in the package.

Note: A third party reference for many of the OSD tags can be found here: http://www.tmurgent.com/OSD_Illustrated.aspx

2.4.2 Create a Security Group to Provision the New Application Package

Microsoft recommends the following articles on Active Directory group management:

Active Directory Best Practice for Global Group Names and Conventions http://www.microsoft.com/technet/solutionaccelerators/cits/dsd/acctmgmt/acmarch/acmarch2.mspx

Group Type and Scope Usage in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;231273

To ease management of the SoftGrid environment, create a specific Organization Unit for groups used in SoftGrid provisioning. For example, OU=SoftGrid Applications. This makes it easier to locate these groups and to delegate their management. It is also beneficial to add a prefix to identify virtual application groups. For example, a group named VAPP_TextPad_v4.

In addition, to reduce provisioning administration, create based on roles, which can be added to the application groups. For example, role_Helpdesk and role_InfoWorker could be added to VAPP_TextPad_v4.

2.4.3 Publish the Application Package via the SoftGrid Management Console

Verify that the Default Content location has been set properly (i.e. \\%SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER%\Content or \\softgrid.contoso.com\Content). The Default Content property is set in the System Options of the SoftGrid Management Console. This path should be resolvable to all clients. As mentioned at the beginning of this section, SoftGrid Platform Administration Guide details the publishing steps.

2.5 Application Testing

Microsoft recommends creating a test environment to verify the functionality of the virtual application.

· Install a SoftGrid Virtual Application Server and a SoftGrid Client in a test domain. If this is not possible, create test accounts (i.e. SG-TestUser and SG-TestGroup).

· Deploy the application and test the functionality. An application subject matter expert or a power user should thoroughly test the application.

· Functionality tests should be performed on each operating system to which you will deploy the application. If your environment is not standardized on a single virtual drive letter, i.e. Q:, then test deployment on each additional drive letter as well.

· Record the application test results.

2.6 Publish Application in a Citrix Environment

To deliver applications to clients, Citrix can publish a standard desktop or it can publish individual applications (Seamless Windows). When publishing a standard desktop to Citrix (or to Terminal Server) clients, no special SoftGrid specific steps are required. When clients log into their desktop session they receive the file associations and shortcuts just as they would on the SoftGrid desktop client. However, extra steps are may be required when publishing seamless window applications. The following Microsoft SoftGrid knowledge base article describes how to publish SoftGrid-enabled applications in Citrix Environments:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931576/en-us

However, the steps discussed in this article do not include the configuration of file associations on the Citrix client when applications are published in a seamless window.. In order to deliver the File Associations registered by SoftGrid applications, follow the steps below.

1. Logon to the Citrix server with the SoftGrid client installed. Your account needs permissions to all the SoftGrid applications.

2. Open the SoftGrid Client Console and go to the File Types Associations node.

3. Create a New Association for each file type desired. Check the "Apply this file type to all users" check box. Note: It must be a new association, this option is disabled when editing.

4. Close the SoftGrid Client Console and open the Citrix Management Console.

5. Go to the servers’ container in the Citrix Management Console, right-click the same server and choose "Update File Types from Registry" from the context menu.

6. Create a new published application.
a. Name it to the desired application name.
b. Set the "Command Line" to “<insert path here>\sfttray.exe”.
c. Change the Icon to the correct one using a UNC path to the content directory.
d. Check the appropriate File Type Associations.
e. Finish the publishing procedure.
f. Open the properties of the new application and add the path to the OSD file as a parameter to the command line i.e. sftray.exe \\server\content\TextPad_v4_MNT\TextPad4.osd.

7. From a client with the PN Agent installed, refresh your Citrix applications.

8. Verify that documents associated to the new application have the correct icon.

9. Verify the application can be launched directly and through document invocation.

2.7 Application Updates

Throughout the lifecycle of an application, applications may need to be updated. It is important to understand the options available when updating an application, and when to use the different options. For detailed steps on performing an update on the sequencing workstation, see the Sequencing Guide also posted on http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/default.aspx.

2.7.1 Package Update Methods

There are three methods to update a virtual application:

2.7.1.1 Active Upgrade

In an Active Upgrade a new SFT file that includes the application updates is deployed to the SoftGrid server. This is recommended for updates and service packs rather than for moving to new major versions.

Reasons to use:

· Maintains user and machine customizations for the application.

· Bandwidth requirements are reduced as only the deltas of the SFT file are streamed to the client.

· Upgrade process is seamless to users

· Update is Immediately available on next application launch.

· Straightforward publishing process.

Reasons not to use:

· Does not allow side-by-side existence with the original package. It is a mandatory upgrade for all users.

· New version cannot be provisioned to users separately than original package.

· For major version updates, this method is not recommended.

Caveats:

· Do not change the application name (i.e. from Acrobat 6 to Acrobat 6.1) as this will skew reporting results.

· It can be difficult to know when a older version is no longer in use, particularly on a terminal Server. It is recommended to bounce the servers one by one in the farm to break connections. To confirm that a new version is in use on a client, add the “Package Version” column to the display of the Applications node in the SoftGrid Client console.

· When performing an Active Upgrade, you will copy *all* the files up to the package directory in the content repository.. This will cause the current version of OSD, ICO and SPRJ files to be overwritten. As such, it is recommended to archive the package before uploading the new package folder in case of the need to rollback any of the files.

· Be aware that the new SFT is usually at least as large as the original and will need to replicate throughout the enterprise content stores before using the SoftGrid Management Console to add the new version.

2.7.1.2 Re-sequence

With this method, the package is re-sequenced from scratch rather than upgrading the original SFT. Using the recipe created for the original package as a guide, add any changes or apply any updates as needed.

Reasons to use:

· This results in the cleaner more efficient sequence.

· Easy to avoid unique value conflicts.

· The upgraded application can be run side-by-side with the original application.

· The upgrade can be provisioned to specific users.

· Straight forward upgrade process.

Reasons not to use:

· Does not retain the user and machine customizations.

· If the first sequence is not properly documented, the package may be difficult to reproduce.

· May be time consuming to re-sequence.

Caveats:

A re-sequence is seen as new package on server and client, so it requires unique application and shortcut names, unique package root directory and unique SUITE NAME.

2.7.1.3 Branching

Branching refers to using the Sequencer’s Save As command to create a new package based on the original. Branching creates a new package GUID, SUITE NAME and package root directory. The result is similar to re-sequencing.

Reasons to use:

· Does not need to be re-sequenced from scratch.

· The upgraded application can be run side-by-side with the original application.

· The upgrade can be provisioned to specific users.

· The package will be difficult to reproduce from scratch.

Reasons not to use:

· Due care is needed to follow all the required steps.

· Does not retain the user and machine customizations.

· A major version upgrade is being applied.

3 Client Functionality

3.1 Preload a Single Application on a SoftGrid Client PC

The following procedure describes how to load 100% of the SFT file for a specific application package into cache on a SoftGrid client PC.

1. Open the SoftGrid Client Management Console (e.g., Start à Settings à Control Panel à Administrative Tools à SoftGrid Client Management).

2. Select the Applications object in the left window panel.

3. Right-click on the name of the application that you want to fully load into cache and select Load from the drop-down menu.

4. The Package Status column will indicate that the application is loading. Once the application finishes loading the Package Status column will indicate that the application is Idle (100%) and shown below:

5. This can also be scripted using the following
SFTTAY.EXE /Load “Textpad 4.0.7.3” (Use the value listed under the Application column in the SoftGrid Client Management Console, which is NAME+VERSION)
SFTMIME LOAD app:”TextPad 4.0.7.3” The application name is case sensitive

3.2 Preload All Available Applications into cache on a SoftGrid Client PC

The following two methods can be used to trigger the SoftGrid client to automatically pre-load all available applications into the SoftGrid client cache. This is strongly recommended for SoftGrid for Terminal Services client to reduce latency issues.

· Right-click on the SoftGrid Client system tray icon and select “Refresh Applications” and then select “Load Applications”.

· Execute the following command lines on the client PC interactively or in a script:

Sfttray.exe /refreshall
sfttray.exe /loadall

Note: When instructed to load all applications, the SoftGrid client will only load the applications that are provisioned to the currently logged in user. Therefore, scripted load solutions for a Terminal Server need to be executed in the context of a user account with permissions to *all* virtual applications that will be made available.

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Check back in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion.

J.C. Hornbeck

List of Applications That Can Be Virtualized

jchornbe — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:32:28 GMT

"Can you send me a list of all the applications that can be successfully virtualized using Microsoft SoftGrid?"

"Can AppX be successfully virtualized using Microsoft SoftGrid?"

If I had a nickel for every time I got one of these two questions......

Don't get me wrong, they're both valid questions but most of the time it is impossible to provide a simple answer. The reason for this is because in principle we design SoftGrid to work with all applications and will provide "commercially reasonable efforts to investigate potential issues when you run applications in a SoftGrid Application Virtualization environment." To translate, this means that although it would be nice, there's no way we can test all the applications in the world to see if they work 100% when virtualized. Almost every application does run fine but ultimately it will be up to you to try it and see. If we do happen to run across an application that requires some sort of special tip or trick we will document that in the Knowledge Base, but otherwise we'll make every reasonable effort to help you get your application working.

Now with that in mind, what may in fact be a better question is 'What kind of application can I not virtualize with Microsoft SoftGrid?' That's actually a little easier to answer.

While most applications can be successfully virtualized for use with SoftGrid, some applications may have certain characteristics that would prevent them from being completely virtualized using the current version of Microsoft SoftGrid. This includes:

1. Applications that install and rely on a system-level driver, i.e. an application that installs a print driver or a USB device driver. Some applications may allow for the drivers to be installed independent of the other components of the application. As a work around for this scenario, the driver portion of this application could be installed locally on the client system, allowing the other components of the application to be virtualized.

2. Applications that install boot-time services.

3. Applications that use COM+.

4. MAPI virtualization. For information on SoftGrid and Microsoft Office, see the following article:

939796 Prescriptive guidance for sequencing 2007 Office programs in Microsoft SoftGrid http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;939796.

5. COM DLL surrogate virtualization, i.e. DLL’s that run in Dllhost.exe.

6. Applications with licensing enforcement tied to machine, e.g. the license is tied to the system’s MAC address.

Some of the applications that fall into these categories can possibly still be run in Microsoft SoftGrid as long as the component that cannot be virtualized is installed locally on the same machine as the SoftGrid client. This solution may solve the issue but is not a guarantee the applications will properly function. We recommend you test the applications thoroughly to ensure they meet the expected level of functionality.

Michelle Foley

Documentation Set for Microsoft SoftGrid 4.x

jchornbe — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:10:00 GMT

This may be old news to some of you but if you haven't seen the SoftGrid Documentation Set that we published you'll want to check it out. It's published as Knowledge Base article 940163 and includes the following documents:

• SoftGrid Client Installation Guide (Client_Installation_Guide.pdf)

• SoftGrid Platform Administration Guide (Platform_Admin_Guide.pdf)

• SoftGrid Quick Start Guide (Quick_Start_Guide.pdf )

• SoftGrid Sequencer Installation Guide (Sequencer_Install_Guide.pdf)

• SoftGrid Sequencer Manual (Sequencer_Manual.pdf)

• SoftGrid Server Installation Guide (Server_Install_Guide.pdf)

To obtain these documents, download the SoftGrid_v4.x_Documentation.exe file. Then, double-click the file to extract the documents to a folder on your computer. You can find the actual KB article here.

- J.C. Hornbeck