I have been working in Amsterdam this week and assisting a number of customers! its been great fun as i have had the pleasure of Madelinde Walraven shadowing me on my adventures.
Well to add to my fun week I met up with a couple of our App-V MVPs, Rodney Medina and Ment van der Plas for dinner. We had a great chat, and good laugh at a few things. Rodney and Ment also told me about some of the things there Flex Profile Kit has been extended to do including a way to save specific elements from an App-V app settings into flex.
Rodney then went on to say how he blogged about it today… and in his own words…
“Immidio Flex Profiles Advanced is a Windows Profile Management solution which solves a lot of Windows Profile Management issues and optimizes the overall user experience of Windows Profiles.
This is achieved by decoupling and segmenting personal application settings from the underlying Windows OS and Profile, making these settings available cross-Windows Platform and creating a consistent user experience no matter what Windows OS the user is working on.
While this way of handling Windows User Profiles provides a lot of benefits in a scenario where applications are installed traditionally (i.e. no virtualization), it can also be used to decouple personal application settings from App-V enabled (sequenced) applications.
What are the benefits?
- Decouple personal application settings from App-V Delta files (.PKG) proprietary format.
Using App-V there is practically no control over what gets stored into the user delta (.PKG), which in some cases can grow extensively. With Flex Profiles Advanced you can explicitly configure what application settings need to be restored and saved at application startup and shutdown, making you independent of the .PKG files. With Flex Profiles Advanced application settings are stored in an open format (.ZIP).
- Migrate user application settings from installed instance to virtual instance.
When moving from traditional installations (e.g. MSI) to App-V enabled (sequenced) applications, users lose their personal application settings for those applications because these settings are stored in the “real” registry of their Windows User Profile. When using Immidio Flex Profiles Advanced in such a transition scenario, it is possible to migrate settings you specify to the App-V enabled applications.
This even works in a scenario where you now run Windows XP with MSI installations and you are migrating to Windows 7 with App-V enabled applications!
- One transparent way to administrate all user/application settings.
This is especially a good way to manage user settings for scenarios where different deployment solutions are being used and users work on different Windows platforms. For example when users are connecting to remote desktops on TS or VDI and are also working on traditional desktops. With Flex Profiles Advanced it is also possible to manage user settings for both virtual and installed applications in the same way.”
To read more click here
I will have to give the trial software a try and set this up and let you know my findings. But its certainly an interested concept in a way you could create a mandatory profile for your users whilst keeping certain customizations across locally installed applications and virtualized applications.
As always this is not a Microsoft Applications and its is not supported or tested with our Product teams.
Are you a TS/RDS admin? Don't have access to the Microsoft Volume Licensing Site? Need to download App-V for your deployment? Well if you have answered yes to these questions, i may have the answer for you.
App-V for Terminal Servers/RDS is available on Microsoft Download. You need to register and give some of your terminal server information for us to validate you, but that's all you need!
Go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=0890d6cd-0d3b-4c9d-b208-231c65d3e55a register, and download!
Now after most of my customers get there hands on the MDOP 2009 R2….. the next big question is , where is the Terminal Server Client! ahhhhhhh its a different download!
So how can you get your hands on the Remote Desktop Services App-V 4.5 Service Pack 1 client, well the answer is “again” my friends is on https://licencing.microsoft.com.
You can download it today from the MVLS website.You will obviously need to have a valid agreement to download software.
1. Go to https://licensing.microsoft.com
2. Log-in using Passport account
3. Go to the Products Download Section
4) Under Windows Servers released 2009-10-19 you should see “Windows Remote Desktop Srvcs CAL 4.5 with SP1 with Application Virtualization for Terminal Server”
5) Once you select that you can select Language and your download speed and away you go!
Enjoy!
And then the next biggest question i get asked, is How do i get my hands on that App-V Service Pack 1 Component? Well as always the answer is Microsoft Volume licence site.
We released the App-V 4.5 Service Pack 1 Client/server and Sequence, adding Win7 support and a number of other great features. Remember what the upgrade processes is for an App-V full Infrastructure deployment…..
1) All Clients Upgrade
2) All Servers Upgraded
3) Sequencer Upgraded!
Remember that order is your key to getting a pat on the head!
So enough of the chat, dude where's my download!??!!
So how can you get your hands on App-V 4.5 Service Pack 1 and the rest of the MDOP team, well the answer my friends is on https://licencing.microsoft.com.
You can download it today from the MVLS website.You will obviously need to have a valid agreement to download software.
1. Go to https://licensing.microsoft.com
2. Log-in using Passport account
3. Go to the Products Download Section
4) Under Software Assurance released 2009-10-19 you should see “Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance 2009 R2”
5) Once you select that you can select Language and your download speed and away you go!
Enjoy!
A lot of my customers are TS houses. They either use native Windows Terminal Server or a combination with XenApp to deliver there applications to end users with App-V.
So as you can imagine this whitepapers will delight many people! The Terminal Server and App-V product team have come up with a great read.
This whitepaper discusses the benefits, configurations and considerations when planning a TS (RDS) deployment that includes Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V).
This document was built to support designers and architects of Microsoft® Application Virtualization 4.5 infrastructures. Included in this document are performance data and recommendations for selecting the number and types of App-V components to use in an infrastructure.
To read it go here.
Or to select one of the many 4.5 whitepapers go here.
Over on the MDOP blog a major announcement has just come out talking about the new MDOP 2009 R2.
To read the full article go here.
But here is the main announcement ……
Just in time for Windows 7, today we are announcing the availability of Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2009 R2! If you are an MDOP customer, you can download MDOP 2009 R2 through Microsoft Volume Licensing Site (MVLS). For others who wish to evaluate MDOP products, the MDOP software is available at MSDN and TechNet (in accordance with your MSDN or TechNet agreements, except for AIS).
We're seeing great adoption of MDOP products world-wide, so today I thought I'd share what we're hearing from some of our customers and partners. We also have MED-V and AIS updates at the end - so read all the way through!
With Windows 7 right around the corner, you might ask why should I be thinking about MDOP?
Well if you're running a business, MDOP can provide immediate savings with little IT investment, especially when integrated into your Windows 7 plans:
- Optimize Windows 7 deployment using Application Virtualization, reducing PC provisioning time, simplifying application delivery and update, and increasing productivity with user roaming
- Enhance Windows 7 manageability, by addressing common system/application failures (with DEM), repairing unbootable PCs (with DaRT), and controlling Group Policy change (with AGPM)
Many IT organizations have already adopted MDOP for their Windows desktops
MDOP has been licensed for over 21 million desktops worldwide!
In a recent survey completed for Microsoft by Answers Research, and including 1000 IT professionals across five countries, we learned several interesting facts:
- 66% of MDOP customers deployed three or more of the MDOP products
- 52% of them deployed MDOP across more than half of their PCs
- 94% of MDOP customers said they would recommend MDOP to a colleague
- When comparing MDOP and non-MDOP customers, customer satisfaction with Software Assurance increases by 25%
MDOP deployments are not limited to one industry - they are happening across all verticals: Healthcare (Swedish Medical Center, Baptist Health, Vancouver Coastal Health), Education (Universita di Lingue e Comunicazione, Fairfax County Public Schools, California State University, Humber College), Pharmaceutical and Manufacturing (Aurobindo Pharma, Heidelberger, Ingersoll Rand , Picard Surgeles) and Government (City of Zurich, State of Indiana, Algerian National Policy, London Borough of Camden, Legislative Yuan - Taiwan).
You can read one of the 44 MDOP case-studies at the Microsoft Case Study site.
MDOP 2009 R2 simplifies Windows 7 deployment and management
We see several early adopter Windows 7 business customers piloting MDOP. They are waiting for MDOP 2009 R2 to continue their MDOP deployment on Windows 7.
For instance, BMW completed a proof of concept of application delivery with Application Virtualization. "We expect cost savings on desktop support once we start deploying App-V with Windows 7," said Mr. Bernhard Huber, Head of IT Workplace Systems at BMW. "We are also considering AGPM [Advanced Group Policy Management] and MED-V [Enterprise Desktop Virtualization] at a later stage of Windows 7 deployment."
Heinz Koehler, VP of Infrastructure for E.O.N., Power and Gas Company with 85,000 desktops that are being upgraded to Windows 7, talks about MDOP: "We also expect to use App-V to help reduce the packaging and testing costs of applications and use MED-V to help resolve any application compatibility issues."
"...MDOP, specifically App-V, has been a hidden gem our customers have found to help them quickly deploy, and then easily manage and maintain their applications in an efficient manner. In an economy when they are being asked to do more with less, the timing couldn't have been better for MDOP 2009 R2 to help our clients meet their IT initiatives...," said Rand Morimoto, President of Convergent Computing.
Watch a webcast with CDW on October 26, to learn more about CDW deployment of MDOP Application Virtualization on Windows 7.
MDOP deployment requires minimal investment and provides immediate benefits
"Virtualizing a large percentage of your applications is not as daunting as you think. Our customers are taking the fast track to implementing application virtualization by easily converting their existing MSI to virtual formats," said Maureen Polte, Director of Product Management for Flexera Software, the makers of AdminStudio. "Implementation timelines are being met, teams are having smoother rollouts and up to 80 percent of their applications are quickly virtualized."
Matt Ondrejko , Director at EnPointe says: "We are set to complete 13 Proof of Concepts by the end of year, showcasing Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack. The process takes only 5-7 days and we view MDOP PoC as an important step in preparation for Windows 7"
It's important to remember that MDOP is not all about virtualization. MDOP 2009 R2 has updates for AGPM, DEM and DaRT, and our partners see their customers quickly deploying those products and gaining significant benefits from increased control and better desktop monitoring and troubleshooting.
For example, Scott Swegles of Pontis Research said: "While our MDOP POCs are driven by virtualization initially because of the tremendous value it brings, in a matter of hours we can also have Advanced Group Policy Manager running and open a whole new level of control and efficiency in managing desktops. AGPM solves the lack of an approval mechanism and audit trail that was keeping many organizations from taking advantage of Group Policies."
"The visibility that MDOP Desktop Error Monitoring (DEM) provides an organization is incredible, being able to have a central database that all desktop errors roll up into is a powerful tool for the help desk technicians when working through probable cause analysis," said Michael Van Cleave, Technical Specialist - Monitoring and Management, CDW.
Learn more about MDOP 2009 R2 and MDOP beta products
You could read more about the features of MDOP 2009 R2 in this post or watch videos and demos for each of our products as part of our "New Efficiency" joint Windows event at http://www.thenewefficiency.com/ or at www.microsoft.com/mdop .
While not part of this release, there are two additional products that could help you in the migration process to Windows 7:
- Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) V 1.0 SP1 - This updated tool will support Windows 7 and enable enterprise deployment of virtual Windows XP environments to support incompatible applications. A Beta version of MED-V 1.0 SP1 will be available by the end of 2009 and final release is scheduled for the first quarter of calendar year 2010.
- Asset Inventory Service (AIS) 2.0 - AIS 2.0 can track your existing assets to improve Windows 7 deployment planning and will have a series of enhancements that customers have requested: Enhanced hardware inventory, new Silverlight-based user interface, scale to 100,000 PCs, improved volume license reconciliation and ability to track virtual applications. The AIS 2.0 beta is now available (registration closes by October 24th) and the final release will be available in H2 CY2010
Now this is a cool tool that gave me some massive loving recently. I was in a situation that i needed to repro a customer issue and wanted to take it away with me for further testing, obviously i could not take there PC ……. or could i :o)
Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell have created a ubba tool called Disk2vhd. Disk2vhd is a utility that creates VHD (Virtual Hard Disk - Microsoft’s Virtual Machine disk format) versions of physical disks for use in Microsoft Virtual PC or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs). The difference between Disk2vhd and other physical-to-virtual tools is that you can run Disk2vhd on a system that’s online. Disk2vhd uses Windows’ Volume Snapshot capability, introduced in Windows XP, to create consistent point-in-time snapshots of the volumes you want to include in a conversion. You can even have Disk2vhd create the VHDs on local volumes, even ones being converted (though performance is better when the VHD is on a disk different than ones being converted).
The Disk2vhd user interface lists the volumes present on the system.
It will create one VHD for each disk on which selected volumes reside. It preserves the partitioning information of the disk, but only copies the data contents for volumes on the disk that are selected. This enables you to capture just system volumes and exclude data volumes, for example.
Note: Virtual PC supports a maximum virtual disk size of 127GB. If you create a VHD from a larger disk it will not be accessible from a Virtual PC VM.
To use VHDs produced by Disk2vhd, create a VM with the desired characteristics and add the VHDs to the VM’s configuration as IDE disks. On first boot, a VM booting a captured copy of Windows will detect the VM’s hardware and automatically install drivers, if present in the image. If the required drivers are not present, install them via the Virtual PC or Hyper-V integration components. You can also attach to VHDs using the Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Disk Management or Diskpart utilities.
Note: do not attach to VHDs on the same system on which you created them if you plan on booting from them. If you do so, Windows will assign the VHD a new disk signature to avoid a collision with the signature of the VHD’s source disk. Windows references disks in the boot configuration database (BCD) by disk signature, so when that happens Windows booted in a VM will fail to locate the boot disk.
Disk2vhd runs Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1, and higher, including x64 systems.
Download Disk2vhd
(704 KB)
Run Disk2vhd now from Live.Sysinternals.com
Runs on:
- Client: Windows XP SP2 and higher.
- Server: Windows Server 2003 and higher
Well i got an unexpected email from Kalle today after i posted about his SFT-Encoder tool. Because of the post he wanted to give all readers of the Virtual World blog 25% discount to SFT Encoder Enterprise Edition if purchased by Friday 9th October.
The code is: ZARBIEROCKS! and it must be entered into payment page when you to the site and order online.
Remember
Try out full functionality of the Enterprise Edition with the trial version!
You can also download free SFT Encoder Express*, capable of creating simple App-V packages.
I hope you get some benefits! As my wife says “any discount is a good discount”.
Baldwin, just posted a great load of info about using the IPD for your server virtualization projects over here. But to recap here is what he said…
---------------
Planning is a crucial part of every successful IT project. Unfortunately, who can ever find enough time to plan?
Well, Microsoft has developed a set of planning tools (called Solution Accelerators) to help you. Whether you are considering Windows Server 2008 R2 OS migration, consolidation your servers with Hyper-V, or virtualization management with System Center Virtual Machine Manager, you will find these 2 planning tools very helpful to accelerate your planning process, save some valuable time so you can focus on the actual deployment work.
Tool #1: Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides (IPD) for Windows Server Virtualization and Management
The IPD Guides are the Microsoft best practice to help you ask the right questions during the planning phase of your projects and offer you step-by-step guidance through flow-charts and diagrams. This is especially useful if you have not designed an infrastructure for Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V or System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 before.
Tool #2: Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP) for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V
The MAP Toolkit is an agent-less inventory tool that not only discovery machines on your network for device/hardware compatibility checks regarding Windows Server 2008 R2 migration. It can also collect performance metrics to determine where your under-utilized servers are and which ones are the best virtualization candidates through the use of Hyper-V hypervisor technology. Also, this MAP Toolkit can analyze your desktops for Windows 7 hardware compatibility as well!
Enjoy reading these guides and start tooling up for your Virtualization Projects!
Baldwin Ng (Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators)
On Monday I posted a list of app-v versions based on releases that we have shipped. One of them was hotfix rollup 5 which J.C posted on the app-v blog. The hotfix package for August 2009 that contains the latest hotfixes for Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 Cumulative Update 1. This hotfix package addresses the following issues:
- It takes significantly longer to stream a package over the RTSPS protocol than to stream a package over the RTSP protocol.
- When you use TrueCrypt for drive encryption, any attempts to mount an encrypted volume may generate a 0xA stop error.
- The Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 client leaks paged pool memory. This problem occurs when you apply a disk quota to the profile directories of a user and when the disk quota is near the limit. .
- A virtual application that calls the RegQueryMultipleValues function may experience unexpected errors or fail to start. For example, you receive error messages when you start or shutdown the Trapeze application. Then, the application does not work correctly.
- When an Application Virtualization 4.5 client tries to perform a publishing refresh procedure over HTTP or over HTTPS, the procedure is not completed successfully. Specifically, the procedure is not completed successfully if a package contains pathnames that have Japanese characters. This problem occurs when the Application Virtualization 4.5 client has Windows Internet Explorer 6 installed and runs a Japanese version of Windows XP.
- When it is run as a virtual application, Microsoft Office Access 97 generates an error message 1008 when Office Access 97 is moving temporary files.
- When an Application Virtualization 4.5 client tries to perform a publishing refresh procedure over HTTP or over HTTPS on an IPv6 network, the procedure is not completed successfully.
- When you expand a %APPDATA% environment variable to a universal naming conventions (UNC) path, application-specific failures occur when you start virtual applications.
- The Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 client cannot log on to a publishing server. This problem occurs in environments that have a trust relationship and a mapped user account between a Windows domain and an MIT Kerberos realm. Additionally, you receive an error message 8009030C.
Note You can resolve this problem by creating a UseMITKerberos registry value.
Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows
- Start Registry Editor.
- Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Client\Network
- On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
- Type UseMITKerberos, and then press ENTER.
- On the Edit menu, click Modify.
- Type 1, and then click OK.
- Exit Registry Editor.
Important - Consider the following scenario. You add or remove a user from an Active Directory security group that is used to control access to an application. Then you enable this hotfix. In this scenario, Application Virtualization 4.5 does not correctly publish the application after a publishing refresh procedure. The user must log off and then log back on to see the changes.
- This hotfix does not support Application Virtualization 4.5 in environments that have a trust relationship and a mapped user account between a Windows domain and an MIT Kerberos realm. In some environments, this configuration may work if you install this hotfix. However, this configuration will not be supported in these environments until a future version of Application Virtualization 4.5 is released.
For all the details and to download the package see:
KB973873 - Hotfix Package 5 for Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 Cumulative Update 1: August 2009
Brilliant! I wanted to get your attention right from the go!
There are some tools which you tend to use from time to time and some tools which you grow into and just cant live without. SFT-Encoder has all of a sudden become the latter for me and some of my App-V Usage. Its funny as when Kalle first told me about the tool, i did not really get it, the use cases for the tool did not stack up for me, but then all of a sudden it all feel into place. Like the moons aligning.
So firstly what is SFT Encoder? In kalle words….
“SFT Encoder is a multi-purpose SoftGrid/App-V package encoding and modification solution, designed to be used as a quick and easy way to generate new packages and to make modifications to existing packages. Also suitable for migration scenarios, SFT Encoder can up- and downconvert between SoftGrid 3.x, 4.1/4.2 and App-V 4.5 packages.
Unlike the Microsoft Application Virtualization Sequencer which interactively monitors and captures changes on the packaging system, SFT Encoder modifies new and existing packages based on user specified file- and registry -operations, making it possible to integrate SFT Encoder with workflow of software vendors, service providers and packagers. At the same time, easy-to-use options make it perfect fit and addition to toolkit of all SoftGrid/App-V consultants and administrators. “
So what does this actually mean? Well you basically point the tool at a SFT file and programmatically inject/remove/inspect files and registry settings.
Use Case 1: I have x number of App-V applications how can i check that a certain registry key or file is captured?
Use Case 2: I want to inspect all my or some of my App-V applications, and if they have a registry key or file that does not meet my package requirements, delete it from my package?
So this situation here was that a customer of mine wanted to create a standard for what was in there app-v packages. They wanted a way to programmatically inspect the packages that were created to see if the registry key or files were there and in this situation delete the registry keys or files. They also wanted to create a standard list of files / regkeys to check against and delete or add for consistency.
Just think of the inspections that you can automate to validate your packages? I get asked this a lot. How can i do this today? ….. This could be your pre-check that you want to have done.
What else can it do?
Batch processing updates to SFT files and the associated files. For example say you have 1000 packages that were created in 4.1. And you want to rapidly update every single package to 4.5, and change the server path, and the blocksize……..
well thats exactly what the SFT Encoder Batch Processor does.
So lets take some of the things i do for example. I am constantly upgrading my packages form one app-v version to another. I am also involved in certain programs where i need to update or modify my packages to suite the needs of a situation (new server, block size, compression) , I don’t want to override my old packages but do want the new packages created. This is where this tool really comes into its own and with the addition of the x64 and OSTAGs modification (for my win7 x64 build) it saves me bundles of time!
Use Case 3: I have a requirement to Rapidly modify my App-V packages to newer versions and without complex scripting.
Use Case 4: I want to update or modify all or some of my OS TAGS in a programmatic fashion.
What are the complete set of features?
So this has grown recently and I thought it would be worth pasting an extract from the website.
| Feature |
Express |
Professional |
Enterprise |
Server |
|
|
|
|
|
| Create new package |
• |
• |
• |
• |
| Modify existing package (SFT or whole package) |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Import directory structure to package as normal mount |
• |
• |
• |
• |
| Import multiple directory structures as normal mounts |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Import multiple directory structures using specific mount point |
|
|
• |
• |
| Import directory structures to package as VFS mount |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Import multiple directory structures to package as VFS mounts |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Delete files from package |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Import registry branches into package |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Import registry files into package |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Delete registry keys from package |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Delete registry values from package |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Set registry key attributes |
|
|
• |
• |
| Set registry value attributes |
|
|
• |
• |
| Change/create registry value data |
|
|
• |
• |
| Specify encoded package's version level |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Specify encoded package's blocksize |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Save compressed package |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Specify file to launch from package |
• |
• |
• |
• |
| Specify multiple exectuables to launch from package (from normal package path or VFS) |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Specify multiple external executables to launch (from external paths) |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Generate associated package files (OSD, ICO, SPRJ) |
• |
• |
• |
• |
| Generate package manifest file |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Generate only SFT file |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Change package's root directory name |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Generate new GUIDs for package |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Remove package's version history |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Perform in-place editing |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Toggle package's internal ACL enforcing on and off |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Specify server address for OSD |
• |
• |
• |
• |
| Specify server protocol for OSD |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Specify server protocol port for OSD |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Specify package subdirectory placement in content directory |
|
• |
• |
• |
| Set attributes for internal filesystem |
|
|
• |
• |
| Search and set attributes for internal filesystem with regular expression |
|
|
• |
• |
| Rename OSD files |
|
|
• |
• |
| NEW: Add and remove OS VALUEs |
|
• |
• |
• |
| NEW: Cleanup of Windows Installer runtime files |
|
• |
• |
• |
| NEW: Set explicit virtual drive |
|
|
• |
• |
| NEW: Support for x64 packages |
|
• |
• |
• |
| NEW: Write data to files inside the package filesystem |
|
|
• |
• |
| NEW: Create directories inside the package filesystem |
|
|
• |
• |
| Fine-grained content generation and modification via Processing Templates |
|
|
• |
• |
| Licensed per user |
|
• |
• |
|
| Licensed per machine |
|
|
|
• |
I use the enterprise edition which has been super handy for my testing and deployment requirements.
The tool can also be integrated into your own workflow by creating processing templates which you can build upon!
The killer piece is that after a lot of work SFT Encoder is now available in a trial format that you can play with to see whether it would fit your business requirements and needs. If your a hardcore App-V house than this is certainly something worth looking at! As always, this is not a Microsoft tool and as such we make no warranties or guarantee's, nor does Microsoft support the use of these tools in any way.
Try out full functionality of the Enterprise Edition with the trial version!
You can also download free SFT Encoder Express*, capable of creating simple App-V packages.
To summarise, this third party tool is a brilliant tool that has some great features that are available to make you more efficient in your App-V deployments. If you have not already downloaded it to play, go do it NOW!
Brilliant!!!
Rodney pinged me on my blog ages ago now saying about another Free tool that Login Consultants have developed. The tool is the App-V USB Tool 1.0 which you can download here.
I have not yet tried the tool but the word on the street is that its pretty darn nifty!
I will let login explain :o)
“The App-V USB Tool is an add-on to the App-V 4.5 Client. It makes it possible to automatically, or by request, import and register App-V enabled (sequenced) applications into the App-V Client from any USB storage device. Note: This will only work with applications that are sequenced with App-V 4.5 sequencer or above.
When the App-V USB tool is running it displays an icon in the system tray.
As soon as you insert a USB storage device, the App-V USB tool detects this and shows the following options.
When you select “Scan and Auto-Import all Virtual Applications” it will scan the complete USB storage device for App-V 4.5 sequences and import these automatically.
When you select “Scan and show list of found Virtual Applications” it will show a list of these applications. You can then select which applications you would like to import.
Once the tool is installed, there is also an option to right-click on any folder (local or USB storage) that contains App-V 4.5 sequences, and Auto Import.
Download from source.”
I certainly need to have a play with the tool as it looks really good and handy for standalone/power users like myself!
I was chatting to Madelinde about client build versions and hotfix rollups etc etc! To cut a long story short it was about giving customers a simple and easy way to understand what build version they are on.
So super Madelinde sat down and came up with a nice table showing all the details to date!
Hope this is handy for you all! I have also attached this as an excel spreadsheet.
Windows Server Virtualization
System Center Virtual Machine Manager
The Infrastructure Planning and Design team has released two updated virtualization guides, Windows Server Virtualization and System Center Virtual Machine Manager, now available for download here.
Introduction
These guides, updated to reflect the features and functionalities of Windows Server® 2008 R2 and System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, outline the critical infrastructure design elements that are crucial to a successful implementation of these virtualization products.
The Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide for Windows Server Virtualization takes the reader through the process of designing components, layout, and connectivity in a logical, sequential order. Identification of the Hyper-V™ server hosts required is presented in easy-to-follow steps, helping the reader to design and plan virtual server datacenters.
The Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager assists readers in the design and implementation of SCVMM architecture, thus enabling centralized administration of physical and virtual machines. Identification of the VMM server instances required is one of the simple, seven-step design processes presented in this guide.
Infrastructure Planning and Design streamlines the planning process by:
· Defining the technical decision flow through the planning process.
· Listing the decisions to be made and the commonly available options and considerations.
· Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics.
· Framing decisions in terms of additional questions to the business to ensure a comprehensive alignment with the appropriate business landscape.
Tell your peers about IPD guides! Please forward this mail to anyone who wants to learn more about Infrastructure Planning and Design guides.
Join the Beta
Additional Infrastructure Planning and Design guides are available as beta releases on the Connect Web site. They are open beta downloads. If you are not already a member of the IPD beta program, and would like to join, follow these steps:
1. Go here to join the IPD beta program:
https://connect.microsoft.com/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=1587&InvitationID=IPDM-QX6H-7TTV&SiteID=14
If the link does not work for you, copy and paste it into the Web browser address bar.
2. Sign in using a valid Windows Live ID.
3. Enter your registration information.
4. Continue to the invitation page, scroll down to Infrastructure Planning and Design, and click the link to join the IPD beta program.
Already a member of the IPD beta program? Go here to get the latest IPD beta downloads:
https://connect.microsoft.com/content/content.aspx?ContentID=6556&SiteID=14
Related Resources
Virtualization Solution Accelerators
Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V
Virtual Server 2005 R2
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2
Microsoft Virtualization
As some of you may or may not know I took a little time out. The last 3 months have probably been the most hectic for me in Microsoft as the number of Virtualization requests in EMEA have been staggering. Customers are doing some amazing stuff with Virtualization (not just Microsoft Virtualization) which kept me pretty busy (with little to no time to blog as often as i liked).
To add I have got married :o) and just returned yesterday from My Honeymoon, where Mr and Mrs Zarb have had a nice and relaxing two weeks. Thanks to all for the kind wishes! And my blogging fingers feel more than refreshed and ready to pass the good words, tips and tricks on how to do stuff back to the community.
Now i have had my break, I have some cool stuff coming up, SFT-Encoder (brilliant tool for playing with SFT files), App-V USB Tool (Handy for the standalone community), Some great stories from the 4.6 Beta and much much more!
