31 December, 2010 18:27

Not Again, Again my email was hacked and this link was sent to all my friends: http://crm.innovatrics.com/javascripts/mywork.html   Shame on him whoever hacked my email.

Alpha 1 Version of App-V Interview Questions

Dear All,

My first try to consolidate all the app-v interview questions. http://sourceforge.net/projects/softgridhelper/files/Documentations/AppV%20Interview%20Questions_Ver_0.0.1Alpha1.pdf/download

As always your comments and suggestions are most welcome.

Enjoy,

Mayank Johri

Release: maya App-V Package Deployment Manager

I have developed a new application to publish App-V packages on the client machines without the need of App-V Server or SCCM Server for deployment. This app can be of great help for laptop users, where SCCM will not work due to IPAddress issues.

It can be downloaded from mayaAppVDeploymentManage_0.0.133.msi.

 

As always suggestions and comments are welcome.

RFC: OSD Helper

I am planning to restart the coding on OSD Helper ver: 0.6, the only tool in my arsenal totally dedicated to Package Engineers. It will have the following new & updated features.

• Ability to add registry keys
• Ability to create new OSD files
• Ability to rename OSD Files based on predefined format and then update the list in SPRJ file
• Ability to copy & update OSD & SPRJ files for predefined servers
• Ability to cleanup the OSD files for many gotchas
• Ability to update VFS shortcuts
• Ability to add predefined scripts to OSD Files
• Ability to publish packages directly to the server (will be added in only 0.7 version)
• Ability to Launch any locally installed application from within the Virtual Environment
• Ability to Launch any predefined locally installed application from within the Virtual Environment
• Ability to import virtual packages locally, so that they can be tested without publishing them on the server
• New & updated Copy Dialog with Cancel button

As this is Request for Comment time, inform me if you guys wants me to add or update any feature

 

Issue: App-V: MSI Installer fails to function when launched from any Virtual Browser or virtual download manager.

The msi installation will always fail when the msi installer is launched directly from within the virtualized Browser or download manager, as it is running inside the virtual environment  and thus can not access MSI Installer service.

Mayank’s App-V Managers View Released

I am proud to announce the first release of maya App-V Manager’s View and can be downloaded from sourceforge.net website.

GUI Introduction

The User intyrface consists of two section, usage section & configuration section. Normal tasks are performed using “usage section” & configuration of server details can be done using “configuration section”

Usage Section

Usage Section can be divided into three section, Server List, “Reports” and “Search”.

Server Section consists of a drop down menu which contains all the pre-configured server list.

Clicking on “Load” button connects the application with the selected MSSQL Server, Clicking on “Edit” button opens another window where server details can be configured.

Reporting or Search can be selected from the Notepad menu shown below

Reporting Section again is consist of two main section, Top 10 & Reporting. The Top 10 returns the top 10 applications & users of the Selected App-V Infrastructure.

Reporting allows the users to generate HTML reports based on selected options.

Reports can be generated based on “Application Usage”, “User Activity” & “Computer Details”. Reports can also be generated on all items or selected items, for all times of specific duration.

First Configuration

When the first time the application is launched, the server details need to be added to the system. This can be done by clicking the “Edit” button.

Enter the details and click on Save. Presently new entries does not show until you close the box.

Trick: As long as you keep on changing the “Display Name” the updated details will be saved as a new Entries

Request for Suggestions: App-V View Managers View.

Hello All,

In few days I will be releasing alpha version of App-V Manager’s View, Since my last update lot of new items have been added to it. I am forwarding few snapshots and sample report for your reviews and suggestions.

Features Added are as follows:

* List of Top 10 Users & Applications
* Report on
o Computer Details such as hostname, App-V Client Version, Cached Used, Total Cache Size
o Application Usage
o User Application Usage
* Export list of Applications, Packages & Computer in HTML format.
* Multiple Server Configuration.

This program still some tweaking and thus in this context.

Thanks & Regards
Mayank Johri

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Updated tips to pick right apps for sequencing

The following guidelines can be applied to test if any given application is a good candidate for sequencing or not.

1. Application Size: If the maximum client cache size is set for 4 GB (The Max can be 64 GB), then the maximum size of application (sft file) which can be streamed on that machine is 4 GB.

All applications which have the installed footprint greater then or equal to the max client size, set by the client, should not be sequenced. The Max applicaiton size Softgrid can handle is 4GB, [This is my guess as Q: drive has FAT filetype and the max filesize FAT can handle is 4GB ]. More details at http://www.softgridguru.com/viewtopic.php?t=2763.

2. Device Driver: Softgrid presently do not support sequencing of device drivers thus any application which install device driver should not be sequenced.
   The only exception is when the device driver can be installed locally without installing the application. In this case the Device driver should be installed locally and only the application without the device driver should be sequenced.
3. Plugins: Specially Office plugins, although they can be sequenced without any issue. But due to usage issues, sequencing of them should be avoided. For example you sequenced 4 excel plugins and one user is using all 4 of them. Say he opened excel through one sequenced version, created the document and closed it. Now App-V & OS does not have a mechanism to open that excel sheet in the correct sequenced version of excel. The only workaround is to sequence all the plugins in a group. But now the issue is to maintain all the plugin sequences also if you are working for a company which heavily relay on Office Plugins and most user use different set of plugins then managing the sequence will be a nightmare.
4. Windows Context menu: Presently App-V does not have mechanism to handle Windows Context Menu, thus these types of applications are not good candidate for Sequencing.
5. Custom Application Protocol: Some applications have custom launch protocols, such as “abcd://testing” etc. These types of applications cannot be sequenced without installing a prerequisite. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa767914%28VS.85%29.aspx and http://www.codeplex.com/customurl for more details how to archive it.
6. Shortcuts: Application should have minimum of 1 Shortcut. If no shortcuts are present then the application should be sequenced in a Suite along with the application which needs it.
   If Macromedia Flash is the application in question to be sequenced then the shortcut should be pointing to the locally installed IE.
7. Middleware: Middleware applications are not a good candidate for sequencing as they can be used as prerequisites by various many applications in the build and thus should be installed locally. but if multiple version of it are needed then it should be sequenced along with the application which needs them.
8. Path hard coding: The application should not have folder/file path hard coded in the application itself. Some application hard code the path of files in registry or ini file or executables.

In these cases it has been found that the application can be sequenced most of the time, but extreme care should be taken while sequencing & testing. Configuration files such as ini, conf, txt etc are good places to look for the hardcoding.

9. Base Build Applications: Applications which are already part of base build should not be sequenced. One can sequence them but they are of no real value.
10. Auto Update: Application with automatic updates should not be sequenced. Sequenced application most of the time fails to properly update itself. Also allowing auto update leads to non compliance of application version.

Application should be sequenced only if the auto update feature can be disabled during sequencing procedure.

11. Services: For services -item, you should note that services that can be started when application starts and shut down when application main executable shuts down can be included in sequence. Only services that run as their own are (like boot-time services do but there are others) not suitable for sequencing since under SoftGrid all application starting happens under user’s session context. Special thanks to ksaunam.
12. COM+: Some application which uses COM+ might not work properly in virtual environment, thus this type of applications needs be tested properly.
13. COM DLL: Few application which uses COM DLL surrogate virtualization, i.e. DLL’s that run in Dllhost.exe, does not work properly in Softgrid Environment. Thus this type of applications needs be tested properly.
14. Licensing Policies: Applications with licensing enforcement tied to machine, e.g. the license is tied to the system’s MAC address. This type of application should not be sequenced if the activation can not be done by the user at the first launch of sequenced application.
15. Internet Explorer & Service Packs: Internet Explorer, Services Patch and Service pack can not be sequenced.
16. Hosts file can not be sequenced

QA: What is VFS Sequenging

VFS Sequencing is a process of sequencing the applications be installing them in their default locations. or The method of allowing an Application to install on C: drive during the monitoring phase of the sequencing is termed as VFS sequence.

QA: What is App-V Sequencing

It is the process of creating a virtualized package using Microsoft App-V sequencer.
The Microsoft Application Virtualization (akka App-V) Sequencer is a component of the App-V suite used to package your applications to be deployed to systems using the App-V client.