As an App-V administrator, one of the tasks you may find yourself performing is moving the system database to another SQL server. This process has a number of gotchas because the database is referenced in a number of places which can prevent the App-V management service from starting, so here is a list of tasks to perform which will ensure a successful database move.

In our live scenario, we migrated the App-V database from a SQL 2008 SP1 server running a named instance under the Network Service account, to a SQL 2008 SP1 server running a default instance under a domain account.

Backup and move the database

1. On the App-V management server, stop the “Application Virtualization Management Server” service

2. Within SQL Server Management Studio, perform a full backup of the App-V database

3. Under the database, go to Security/Users and make a note of the users which have access to the App-V database, and the database role memberships

4. Connect to the new SQL server and restore the App-V database. Make sure that the filenames are correct (particularly the log file)

5. Under the Security/Logins section, create new logins (if necessary) to match the users assigned to the App-V database

6. In the case of the NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE user in the App-V database, this is no longer necessary and should be replaced with a new user/login which maps to the machine account of the App-V management server (eg: DOMAIN\SERVER$) with the same role membership

Update the database references

1. On the management server, open the Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Server, or HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Server on a 64-bit server. Change the values for SQLDatabaseName, SQLServerName and SQLServerPort as appropriate

2. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center App Virt Management Server\App Virt Management Service, or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft System Center App Virt Management Server\App Virt Management Service on a 64-bit system. You will need to edit the properties of SftMgmt.UDL, but this location is protected by the operating system and will not accept changes (our environment is running Windows Server 2008 R2 with UAC enabled). Copy the file to another location (preferably within the user profile) where UAC is not a problem

3. Right-click the file and select Properties. Go into the Connection tab and change the contents of the server name and database fields as appropriate. Leave “Use Windows NT Integrated security” checked. Copy the modified file back and overwrite the old UDL

4. In SQL Server Management Studio, on the new SQL server perform query against the dbo.DATA_SOURCES table returning all rows. There should only be one row – the default query generated by right-clicking and choosing “Select Top 1000 Rows” is:

SELECT TOP 1000 [data_source_id] ,[data_source_type] ,[odbc_driver] ,[hostname] ,[port] ,[service_name] FROM [APPVIRT].[dbo].[DATA_SOURCES]

In this case, “APPVIRT” is the name of the App-V database. In the returned values, verify that the hostname is the new SQL server. If it is not, use the following to change the value:

update [APPVIRT].[dbo].[DATA_SOURCES] set hostname = ‘SERVERNAME’

Now, start the “Application Virtualization Management Server” service, which should start without any problems – if possible it is worth shutting down the original SQL server or detaching the database to ensure that the management server is not connecting back to the old database. If the service fails to start, the error will be logged in the Application logs under the Event Viewer, and will be related to either the server permissions on the remote SQL server or the SQL data pipeline, and it may be necessary to restart the management server before troubleshooting further. As a best practise, it is best to set the App-V service to have an “Automatic (Delayed Start)” startup type.

5. Log into the management server using the Application Virtualization Management Console. If you are logging in from a remote computer, you may get an unauthorised error message. This is likely because the user credentials are not being passed correctly from the management server to the SQL server. To verify that this is the case, launch the Management Console from the management server while logged on as the same user. If it still does not launch, verify that the user has sufficient permissions on the remote SQL server. If it does launch, then it is a credentials problem as documented here. To fix this, create new SPNs for the domain account which is running the SQL services on the SQL server:

a. Setspn –A MSSQLSvc/SERVERNAME:PORT DOMAINUSER

b. Setspn –A MSSQLSvc/SERVERNAME.FQDN:PORT DOMAINUSER

c. Verify that this is correct with Setspn –L DOMAINUSER

d. Launch the Management Console again and this time it should connect successfully

6. Within the Management Console, navigate to Server Groups and right-click on the server group which holds the management server (normally the Default Server Group) and select Properties. Go to the Logging tab, highlight the SQL Database control and select Edit. Change the DNS hostname to match the new SQL server. Press OK and Apply, and then restart the “Application Virtualization Management Server” service for the changes to take effect

7. Make sure that virtual applications are being delivered correctly to clients

• Microsoft VDI – Resources (2)
• Microsoft VDI – Interview with Jeff Alexander (0)
• Microsoft VDI – Interview with Michael Kleef (0)
• Does VDI reduce costs? (9)
• Microsoft VDI licensing (0)

Microsoft Desktop Virtualization

Microsoft Virtualization Product Portfolio

This page is link list from Microsoft about their virtualization products, quite a few white papers and other resources.

What’s New in Remote Desktop Services

This TechNet article gives detailed overview of the changes in Remote Desktop Services (formerly Terminal Services).

Operating system virtualization

Microsoft product homepage for desktop virtualization

Microsoft Accelerates Desktop Virtualization

The press release that caused the stir about VDI recently.

Competitive Comparison Between Microsoft and VMware Desktop Virtualization (PDF)

This paper is mostly about Microsoft’s desktop virtualization solutions and says only little about VMware.

Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Virtual desktop infrastructure delivers the flexibility you need

This is Microsoft product homepage for VDI.

Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Explained

A TechNet article that gives a good overview of Microsoft VDI.

Brian Madden Shootout: We’re there and talking about VDI and RDS

Michael Kleef explains the difference between pooled VDI vs. personal virtual desktops (PVD)

Justifying VDI – Part One

This article is about VMware View, probably the VDI solution with the biggest market share today.

Microsoft VDI Licensing

Virtual Enterprise Centralized Desktop (VECD) Licensing FAQ (PDF)

Beginning July 1, 2010, VECD will be replaced with the new VDA license. However, some info in this FAQ will still be useful.

Licensing Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R2

This is Microsoft’s homepage for RDS licensing.

Licensing Focus – Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

A detailed article about Microsoft VDI Licensing

What’s Microsoft’s real reason for killing VECD?

RemoteFX

Explaining Microsoft RemoteFX

Microsoft’s Virtualization Team Blog explains RemoteFX, the new feature that will come with Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Could someone tell them that their site doesn’t look properly in Chrome and Firefox?

Vendors react to Microsoft RemoteFX announcement: VMware, Quest, Wyse Technology

Third party VDI vendors are getting nervous.

Hyper-V Dynamic Memory

The first article gives a short explanation of Hyper-V Dynamic Memory, another new feature of Windows Server 2008 SP1. If you want it a “little” more detailed, you should read the Dynamic Memory series at the Virtualization Team Blog.

Microsoft details upcoming Hyper-V Dynamic Memory feature

Dynamic Memory Coming To Hyper-V Part 1

Dynamic Memory Coming to Hyper-V Part 2

Dynamic Memory Coming to Hyper-V Part 3

Dynamic Memory Coming to Hyper-V Part 4

Dynamic Memory Coming to Hyper-V Part 5

Videos

If you prefer to watch rather than read, then you might like the following videos. The first link will lead you to a side with a couple of interviews about Microsoft Desktop Virtualization. The Geek Week videos over at brianmadden go into the technical details of Microsoft VDI. Recommended!

Desktop Virtualization Hour

Geek Week VDI: Microsoft “in box” VDI Whiteboard (Part 1)

Geek Week VDI: Microsoft “in box” VDI installation and configuration (Part 2)

Geek Week VDI: Microsoft “in box” VDI WAN experience (Part 3)

Geek Week VDI Day 4: Microsoft “in box” VDI solution summary

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• How to move an App-V database to another SQL server (1)
• FREE: Remote Desktop Connection Manager – An RDP client (5)

Jeff’s blog can be found here.

JB: The large range of virtualization options available to customers means that there’s pretty much a solution to fit every usage scenario.

JA: There’s certainly been a lot of confusion in the local market with businesses and IT pros, simply because Microsoft has so much happening in the virtualization space, and sometimes it’s not clear how it all fits together. That’s why May 2010 is Virtualization Month for Microsoft Australia, where we’re running lots of Live Meetings to give IT pros a comprehensive overview of the key solutions. We’re following that up with free virtualization workshops across Australia throughout June.

In addition to Hyper-V, App-V and VDI, we’re also seeing a lot of interest in user state virtualization. We’ve been speaking with one of our partners, AppSense, whose products allow customers to virtualize the user state as well as the rest of the operating system stack.

In my discussions with customers we’re taking a new look at the traditional SOE model, which is essentially tied to the hardware platform with the operating system, applications and user state layered on top. We’re explaining to customers now how we can de-couple those layers and treat them as separate, manageable entities. Although VDI allows businesses to make use of very thin clients, what I’m hearing from customers is that they are still going to be using traditional full-fledged thick clients running Windows 7, but then taking advantage of some of the features we have available in Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R2.

There’s also still a lot of confusion surrounding VDI and what it can offer. Many customers still think that VDI solutions will reduce TCO, and we’re trying to explain that this is unlikely to be the case. Rather, VDI is a business flexibility solution. Interestingly, we’re seeing that the biggest deployments of VDI in the marketplace are providing solutions for offshore drilling platforms and software developers, and many more customers are taking advantage of the desktop parity features offered in RDS with Windows Server 2008 R2.

The big problem we have in Australia is bandwidth, and I’m always surprised at how little many customers have invested in WAN bandwidth. That’s a major problem when considering new technologies like VDI, which are excellent at supporting remote users but do require solid connectivity. This means that customers are often prevented from implementing technologies like VDI until they make the necessary (and generally expensive) infrastructure upgrades.

JB: This raises an interesting consideration, because a recent trend in Microsoft products has been the ability to squeeze more and more out of the base product without requiring constant infrastructural upgrades. However, unless you’ve made those investments over time you will hit a point where you can’t achieve anything more.

JA: Of course. And customers need to constantly assess their requirements and expectations in order to be able to scale solutions to fit the usage patterns the business needs and to implement technology like VDI. The Best Practises Analyzers which we’ve incorporated into Server 2008 R2 can help a lot with this. In fact, we do have a lot of guides and best practises out there which not many of our customers are aware of, and we do see many businesses trying to implement new technologies on a budget that’s too tight to do the job properly.

In fact, when technologies like VDI or RDS are implemented without the proper infrastructure to support it, it can end up resulting in greater cost to the company through lost productivity, user complaints and helpdesk calls. Best-practise deployment and end-user consderations really are important.

It’s also important to be able to state that VDI isn’t going to solve everything, but it can certainly give a business a lot of flexibility if they are prepared to implement and support it properly.

JB: How have IT pros responded to Microsoft’s message about de-coupling SOE layers?

JA: The biggest thing which resonates with IT pros is application virtualization, because most organisations have so many applications which require a lot of work to manage, in terms of both delivery and compatibility. Many IT pros don’t have the time or the resources to go through and mitigate all those applications, so App-V allows them to abstract that layer away from the SOE while removing barriers to deployment.

There’s also been a lot of interest in user state virtualization, but I have to say that I haven’t seen much interest in desktop virtualization using the MED-V product in MDOP. There’s certainly been a lot of interest in XP Mode, but that hasn’t translated through to MED-V. We’re also working with a partner called ChangeBase, who will be introducing an SME product which will assist customers to analyze their applications for compatibility issues. There will be some announcements on this shortly.

JB: I’m not surprised about the lack of interest in MED-V. It’s designed to mitigate issues with application compatibility, but as it turns out that’s something which App-V does incredibly well, possibly even better than it was meant to.

JA: That’s right. And it’s something which many customers didn’t expect. And App-V will help in the VDI discussion as well, because it’s another technology which can be brought in to assist deployment and enhance the user experience. It’s also another reason why customers really should be have Software Assurance.

• FREE: Remote Desktop Manager – Manage remote connections (4)
• FREE: mRemoteNG – Open source, multi-protocol, remote connection manager (4)
• Free RDP manager – Royal TS (9)
• How to move an App-V database to another SQL server (1)
• FREE: Remote Desktop Connection Manager – An RDP client (5)

Michael’s blog can be found here.

JB: There’s been a quite consistent look and feel about Microsoft’s remote desktop/VDI technology to date, which has meant that the user is generally aware that they’re not using locally-installed software. The latest advances in the remote application user experience now seems to be at a point where the distinction between local and remote clients is blurring to the point of disappearing

MK: Certainly the traditional user experience has been very different from the rich client experience, but it’s not just about the user experience – we’re pushing strongly to enable businesses to implement different use case scenarios using RDS and VDI. For example, if I want a contract worker to come onsite and put intellectual property into my environment, I want to be able to control how they deliver that IP. With the new RemoteFX capability in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, we can deliver this controlled user experience to workers who need high-end computing and graphics performance, for example CAD users, through the VDI experience.

I don’t think we’re ever going to be able to fully replicate the experience of a physical machine, but there’s certainly a strong move towards that experience using VDI.

In Server 2008 R2, RDS Session Host (formerly known as Terminal Services) is able to make use of the server’s GPU and RemoteFX will enhance this by allowing the encode/decode to work more efficiently over RDP, resulting in efficiency gains. In VDI scenarios, RemoteFX will now allow support for the GPU to render video as well as 3D graphics. It’s worth noting that in Session Host scenarios the server CPU is still used to render video but 3D graphics are rendered through the GPU.

JB: This represents an interesting shift in the server hardware market. Traditionally when buying a new server, its graphics capability hasn’t been a consideration. Now, with the server GPU powering VDI technology customers are going to need workstation-class graphics in their servers, if not even better?

MK: Correct. But it’s important to remember that there are two parts to the capabilities which RemoteFX brings. GPU support is targeted at VDI as Session Host can already use the GPU. Quite often in a thin client environment, the graphics capability of the end machine is used to render the session, so in many cases the thin clients are actually not that thin. RemoteFX means that we can now do all the graphics rendering server-side and simply send flattened bitmaps through to the client. Consequently, customers can now utilise genuinely thin clients.

The other aspect to RemoteFX is the included encode/decode capability. At the moment, the encode/decode of the RDP stream is done using an RDP client. Using RemoteFX means that the server-side encoding can be done in software or hardware, and the client-side decoding can also be done in either software or hardware. We’re also working with OEMs to embed a RemoteFX encode chip in servers, and together with the potential for ASIC-enabled thin clients, we now have the potential to deliver a rich user experience to solid state, sub-$100 thin clients with no GPU requirements.

JB: Could this experience be delivered to portable devices like mobile phones?

MK: This sort of high-fidelity content does require high-speed, low-latency bandwidth, so Microsoft is really concentrating on LAN environments. However, our partners Citrix and Quest will be in a position to offer WAN acceleration using their client software.

JB: How much extra load does VDI place on backend systems?

MK: VDI requires a fair amount of horsepower. We do see businesses implementing VDI expecting to save on TCO, based on various third-party promises, but TCO really isn’t a good way of assessing VDI as you don’t change the TCO model simply by changing the desktop delivery method. It’s best to look at VDI as a business-enabler which allows different use scenarios, such as contract workers and users working from home. The hardware to drive VDI is significant, and the server requirements to support a reasonable number of VDI users is quite large – we’re not talking about single-use, low-end machines but high-end, expensive servers. Additionally, there’s a major need for robust, powerful and scalable storage systems such as high-end iSCSI or fibre channel SANs to deliver high-capacity disk I/O. With VDI we generally see that disk I/O is the biggest barrier to scalability and machine density, rather than processor or memory limitations. In terms of capital expenditure, that represents a significant outlay.

Compare that with Session Host. The typical business user needs access to productivity tools like Office, intranet/internet resources and often not much else. Business users needs tend to range from task-driven roles such as call center or data entry where the same few applications are needed each day and cover all the technical requirements of the role, up to the other end of the scale where the “knowledge workers” are – mobile users who need access to a wide variety of high-end products, often simultaneously. The majority of normal business users tend to fall somewhere in the middle of these two user types – users who need access to a variety of productivity apps, but who don’t use 3D-powered tools. We find that Session Host still more than adequately handles these scenarios.

Additionally, Session Host is much cheaper to implement than VDI. In terms of user density we find that we can usually get at least 2:1 user consolidation over VDI using Session Host for exactly the same usage scenarios. For example, a server which can handle 150 VDI sessions could handle at least 300 sessions using Session Host, and in general Session Host requires less infrastructure so it’s also much cheaper to scale.

So Microsoft’s advice to customers is to segment users according to their usage profile – if 80% of your users fit the traditional office user profile, then support them with Session Host (which is also easier to manage centrally using existing management tools like System Center), and use a personal VDI solution for the users who require a more personalised and isolated experience.

JB: Personal VDI as opposed to pooled VDI?

MK: Yes. When a personal virtual desktop is assigned to a user, when they connect via the Connection Broker they connect to that same VM every time, and it is managed like any other desktop within the organisation.

With pooled VDI, when the user logs in they’re not guaranteed to get the same VM as last time, but rather one of pool of available virtual machines. This is used in conjunction with roaming profiles to preserve the user’s desktop experience across VMs, but when the user logs off the VM is reset to a vanilla state – no changes are saved. Combined with roaming user profiles and potentially application virtualization, this is quite a powerful solution. The problem with the pooled VDI approach is managing the pool. Normally, every virtual machine in a pool of VMs runs off its own differencing disk which in turn hangs off a parent disk. This approach has the major advantage of rapid VM provisioning, but there’s a problem when it comes time to service the parent disk. The only options are to either service each VM, which is undesireable as this defeats the purpose of having the VMs return to a vanilla state once the user logs off, or service the parent disk. This is problematic because all the differencing disks have a hard link to the parent disk and if that goes offline for any reason it results in a catastrophic failure to VM. The only way around this is to do all the servicing offline and create a new pool of VMs each time.

This creates a new management paradigm whereby the VDI environment is managed differently from the rest of the physical environment. That’s why Microsoft suggests that the pooled VDI approach is best suited to the task worker/office worker scenario, but that Session Host can achieve the same end result but cheaper, better and much easier to manage.

JB: Session Host requires a TS CAL for businesses to license the technology. What does VDI require?

MK: The core of the Microsoft’s VDI solution is based around Server 2008 R2, so if that is already licensed along with the necessary TS CALs then you already own the fundamentals for VDI. If you’re not under Software Assurance then you will also need to purchase VDA licenses, which allows you to use Windows 7 in a personal or pooled VDI environment. If you do have Software Assurance then there’s no more to pay.

For a more holistic VDI environment, including management of the VMs and hosts, Microsoft has a license called VDI Suite Premium Edition which includes MDOP, SCOM, SCVMM, SCCM and App-V products as well as RDS CALs. There’s also a VDI Suite Standard Edition which does not include the RDS CALs, as well as a couple of other features. The VDI Suites are licensed per device.

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• How to move an App-V database to another SQL server (1)
• FREE: Remote Desktop Connection Manager – An RDP client (5)

People often think that desktop virtualization, like server virtualization, is a way to reduce costs in IT. I think, this is a misunderstanding, which I will try to clear up in this post. I will also say a few words about the so-called Microsoft VDI tax debate.

VDI hardware costs

The typical thin client argument that your client hardware can be less powerful and, therefore, cheaper doesn’t count when it comes to VDI because you need expensive additional server hardware for VDI. Obviously, your server infrastructure needs a lot more horsepower than with session virtualization (Terminal Server) because each user runs a virtual machine with a full-blown operating system on the server.

This is also true if you take into account that virtualization technology allows you to use resources more efficiently. 1GB RAM for a desktop PC is so much cheaper than 1GB RAM for a server that all this resource sharing can’t compensate. Of course, this does not only apply to memory but to every little chip or screw in your servers. Servers are expensive. Very!

Nevertheless analysts often claim that you can reduce hardware costs with VDI. However, I have never seen a concrete calculation that would really prove this. Such claims are usually based on interviews with CIOs who introduced VDI. But do you really think that a CIO would admit that costs were raised because of his decision? Excel is a very useful application. Change a number here and a number there, and you get exactly the result you wanted.

VDI and central management

The central management benefits that VDI appears to offer are often overestimated. Since end users need hardware to access their virtual desktops, you still have to manage devices outside your datacenter. And because maintaining a VDI environment is technically even more complex than traditional desktop management, I have serious doubts that you can reduce software management costs just because your desktops are running in the datacenter.

When it comes to central management, it is relatively unimportant if all your desktops are in a central place. Central management means that the admin — not the desktops — is at the center. That said, central desktop management was introduced long ago when we gave up sneaker administration. A desktop is a desktop, virtual or physical. Whether you deploy an OS image through Ethernet or Fiber Channel makes no big difference.

VDI and flexibility

Even Microsoft acknowledges that VDI can’t help you reduce costs:

VDI does not reduce desktop costs because it can represent a significant up-front investment in infrastructure, including hardware, software, storage, and network.

Believe me, if a Microsoft marketer admits that you can’t reduce costs with a certain Microsoft product, it is really true. So why would you need VDI if you can’t reduce costs?

It is the extra flexibility that VDI has to offer, i.e. the ability for end users to access their desktop environment from everywhere, that makes this technology interesting. And of course, flexibility always has its price. Thus VDI can improve productivity in some environments. But this improved productivity comes with higher costs.

The VDI tax

Some rumors are going around that Microsoft only axed VECD because they now have their own VDI products. Thus, VECD for SA customers was considered as a VDI tax to impede rivals such as VMware that entered the VDI market long before Microsoft.

Considering that Microsoft didn’t take VDI serious until recently, it is more likely they just saw VECD as an additional way to cash in some license fees. I mean, they did the same thing with Terminal Server, so why not with VDI? The philosophy behind this strategy is, if you want to use Microsoft software in an environment with enhanced capabilities, you should also pay more.

The point is that third-party VDI solutions were competing with Microsoft Terminal Server, which Microsoft always viewed as a form of desktop virtualization. And since you have to pay extra fees if you want to run Windows in a Terminal Server environment, then you also have to pay for VDI. Of course, the part that Microsoft’s VDI competitors disliked was that customers had to pay extra licenses for capabilities provided by software that wasn’t developed by Microsoft.

But why did Microsoft reduce the costs for desktop virtualization even though they added this new VDI technology to Windows Server 2008 R2? I think, it is simply because now, as Microsoft has VDI products, someone in Redmond has spent a little more time with calculating the overall VDI costs and realized how damn expensive the whole thing is. Thus, reducing at least the licensing costs was the most natural thing to do because otherwise all these new wonderful VDI products would just be non-sellers.

• FREE: Remote Desktop Manager – Manage remote connections (4)
• FREE: mRemoteNG – Open source, multi-protocol, remote connection manager (4)
• Free RDP manager – Royal TS (9)
• How to move an App-V database to another SQL server (1)
• FREE: Remote Desktop Connection Manager – An RDP client (5)

The most interesting part of Microsoft’s recent announcements about desktop virtualization were the changes regarding VDI licensing.

VECD licensing

At the moment, you need the Virtual Enterprise Centralized Desktop (VECD) license if you run Windows desktops in a VDI environment. VECD licensing applies not only to Microsoft products but also to third-party VDI solutions such as VMware View or Citrix XenDesktop.

If you are a Windows Software Assurance (SA) customer, you have to pay $23 per year for every device that accesses your VDI. This also applies to PCs that run a Windows client OS.

If you are not a SA customer, then you pay $110 per year. Note that in this case a license for Windows client (Windows 7 Professional, Windows Vista Business, Windows XP Professional) is included.

SA customers also have to pay $110 per year for devices that are not covered by the SA, such as thin clients or non-Windows PCs.

VDA licensing

Beginning July 1, 2010, the VECD license will be discontinued and replaced with the Virtual Desktop Access (VDA) license. The most interesting part of the VDA license is that SA customers don’t have to pay at all. VDA is already included in SA, if you will,. Only non-SA customers pay $100 for a VDA license per year. This is $10 less than before.

Notice that VECD and VDA have to be paid on top of the licenses you pay for the VDI Standard Suite and VDI Premium Suite. So, for example, if you want to deploy virtual desktops with the VDI Standard Suite after July 1, and you don’t have Software Assurance, then you pay $100 (VDA license) + $21 (VDI Standard Suite license) per device and per year.

As noted before, this will also include the license for Windows 7 Professional. Since VDI is hardly imaginable without file and print sharing, you will also need CALs (Client Access Licenses). Microsoft VDI licensing is per device. Hence, it probably makes sense to buy device CALs to keep VDI licensing simple (as far as this is possible in a Microsoft world).

Even if you consider that Windows 7 Professional licenses are already included here, VDI licenses are obviously more expensive than common Windows licenses in the long run if you have no Software Assurance. Since Windows 7 Professional costs you no more than $250, VDI licensing already costs more after two and a half years.

However, the licensing costs are usually unimportant with regard to TCO (Total Costs of Ownership). In my next post, I will discuss the question of whether you can reduce the overall costs with VDI or not.

• FREE: Remote Desktop Manager – Manage remote connections (4)
• FREE: mRemoteNG – Open source, multi-protocol, remote connection manager (4)
• Free RDP manager – Royal TS (9)
• How to move an App-V database to another SQL server (1)
• FREE: Remote Desktop Connection Manager – An RDP client (5)

RemoteFX

RemoteFX is a technology that Microsoft acquired two years ago with Calista Technologies. It is an enhancement of RDS (Remote Desktop Services) that will be delivered with Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (no official release date yet, probably not earlier than Q4 2010). Essentially, RemoteFX will offer support for the following technologies in a Remote Desktop environment (session host and VDI):

• Windows Aero
• Full-motion video
• Silverlight animations
• 3D applications

Obviously RemoteFX could be essential for VDI because one of the major drawbacks of desktop virtualization is that the user experience of Remote Desktop is usually worse than on local PCs when it comes to graphics virtualization.

It is important to note that RemoteFX will provide only the same user experience on a local desktop when connecting over a LAN to the remote desktop. I will probably say more about this topic once Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 has been released. In the mean time you should have a look at this excellent user experience test over at brianmadden.

Dynamic Memory for Hyper-V

Dynamic Memory for Hyper-V is another new feature that will be delivered with Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Dynamic Memory for Hyper-V is an important technology for VDI because it will enable greater virtual machine density.

Even though the technology behind Dynamic Memory is somewhat complicated, from an admin’s point of view this feature appears to be fairly simple. (Note: The original article virtualization.info has linked to has been removed. I will link to some more detailed descriptions of Dynamic Memory in one of my next posts.)

If you understood the concept of dynamic disks in virtual machines, you already have a basic understanding of how Dynamic Memory works. You can either assign a fixed amount of memory to a VM or use the hot-add capabilities of the guest OS to increase memory dynamically during runtime. If you work with Dynamic Memory you can assign a minimum amount of memory to the VM, which will eventually reach the maximum RAM you configured for the VM. Like with dynamic growing virtual disks this means that you overcommit resources.

Please note that other vendors of virtualization software use the term “memory overcommitment” in a different sense. For a short comparison between Microsoft Dynamic Memory and VMware’s memory-overcommit methodology please check out this article.

Dynamic Memory for Hyper-V will probably not be used very often for server virtualization. Like dynamic disks they have a negative effect on performance, and the risk that a server does not get all the memory it needs to perform at an optimum level is too high.

However, since performance is less important for desktops the negative impact of Dynamic Memory on the computational speed will be less significant for VDI. Moreover, increasing the virtual machine density is essential for VDI because the number of virtual machines running on specific Hyper-V system has to be much bigger than with virtualized server to be competitive with cheap desktop hardware.

Of course, all this wonderful VDI technology comes at a price. Unfortunately, it is not enough to buy Windows Server 2008 R2 or one of the VDI suites. In my next post I will cover Microsoft’s VDI licensing.

• FREE: Remote Desktop Manager – Manage remote connections (4)
• FREE: mRemoteNG – Open source, multi-protocol, remote connection manager (4)
• Free RDP manager – Royal TS (9)
• How to move an App-V database to another SQL server (1)
• FREE: Remote Desktop Connection Manager – An RDP client (5)

Microsoft “In-Box” VDI

With In-Box VDI Microsoft refers to the VDI technology that is delivered with Windows Server 2008 R2. I have already introduced some of the In-Box VDI components in my previous article:

• Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V 2.0
• RD Virtualization Host: Supports personal virtual desktops (PVD, each virtual machine has its own OS image) and virtual desktop pools (users/virtual machines share one OS image)
• RD Connection Broker: Supports load balancing and reconnection to existing sessions
• RD Gateway: Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) over HTTPS (SSL)
• Remote Desktop Web Access: Users access their virtual desktops through a web page

Microsoft VDI Standard Suite

The VDI Standard Suite is not a new desktop virtualization product but a collection of Microsoft tools that are useful in a VDI environment. It costs $21 per device, per year. Included in this collection are:

• In-Box VDI components: Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V and Remote Desktop Services
• System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2
• System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2
• System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2
• Microsoft Application Virtualization (only for VDI) through the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP)

Microsoft VDI Premium Suite

The VDI Premium Suite is mostly an extension of the VDI Standard Suite. It costs $53 per device, per year and includes:

• Microsoft VDI Standard Suite
• Complete Remote Desktop Services capability (RDS CALs)
• Microsoft Application Virtualization for Remote Desktop Services

Basically, Microsoft In-Box VDI is just Windows Server 2008 R2 which provides the core technology for Microsoft’s desktop virtualization solutions.

The VDI Standard Suite adds App-V for VDI and three System Center products that can be used to manage virtual desktops. With Configuration Manager you can deploy software and updates to the virtual desktops. Virtual Machine Manager helps you manage Hyper-V and your virtual machines, and Operations Manager allows you to monitor your Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. Application virtualization is useful for VDI because it keeps the virtual desktops “clean.” In a VDI environment it is essential to ensure that the number of OS images is low and that each image is as simple as possible.

The VDI Premium Suite essentially adds the capability to use not only the VDI functions of Server 2008 R2 but also session virtualization (formerly Terminal Server). So for example you could launch RemoteApp programs from a virtual machine desktop. The VDI Premium Suite provides you with the necessary licenses (RDS CALs). Application virtualization is especially useful for session virtualization because it allows you to run applications that are problematic in a RD Session Host environment.

The term “VDI Premium Suite” is a bit misleading because it doesn’t add special VDI features to the VDI Standard Suite. Nevertheless, session virtualization and application virtualization can be helpful for VDI although combining all these technologies raises the complexity level significantly.

In my next post I will discuss two new technologies that will be delivered with Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1: RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory for Hyper-V. Both technologies could be essential for the adoption of Microsoft VDI products.

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• FREE: Remote Desktop Connection Manager – An RDP client (5)

In a series of articles I will give an overview of all the essential concepts of Microsoft’s VDI products. In this first post, I will introduce Microsoft key terms with regard to desktop virtualization. You have to know these terms in order to be able to follow the next articles in this series.

Remote Desktop Services

Remote Desktop Services (RD Services) (formerly Terminal Services) is the new generic term that encompasses all forms of desktop virtualization where users connect to a Windows machine using the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). The former name “Terminal Services” was no longer appropriate since Remote Desktop Services now also includes the VDI technology.

Remote Desktop Session Host

In Microsoft’s language the good old Terminal Server is just one form of desktop virtualization or operating system virtualization. This kind of OS virtualization is now called session virtualization. In Windows Server 2008 R2, the new name for Terminal Server is Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host).

RD Session Host is a role service that allows end users to run typical desktop applications remotely on a server. The good thing about the new names is that RD Session Host and RD Services probably won’t be confused as easily as their predecessors Terminal Server and Terminal Services.

Remote Desktop Virtualization Host

The new VDI function that comes with Windows Server 2008 R2 is called Remote Desktop Virtualization Host (RD Virtualization Host). RD Virtualization Host integrates with Hyper-V. So VDI in a Microsoft environment means that a Windows client OS (e.g., Windows 7) runs on a virtual machine on a Hyper-V system.

Microsoft offers three VDI products: In-Box VDI, VDI Standard Suite, and VDI Premium Suite. I will cover all three products in more detail in my next post.

Remote Desktop Connection Broker

Users connect to their virtual desktops via RDP through the Remote Desktop Connection Broker (RD Connection Broker) (formerly Terminal Services Session Broker). The new RD Connection Broker in Windows Server 2008 R2 manages VDI and Remote Desktop sessions. It supports load balancing and reconnection to existing sessions on virtual desktops, Remote Desktop sessions, and RemoteApp programs.

RemoteApp

RemoteApp (former Terminal Services RemoteApp) allows end users to launch a single application on an RD Session Host. That means they don’t get a full-blown remote desktop with Start Menu, Explorer, and so on. The application runs on the remote server but is more or less indistinguishable from a desktop application.

Remote Desktop Web Access

Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access) enables users to access RemoteApp, RD Session Host and RD Virtualization Host through a web browser. Admins can create web pages that contain links to launch one of the Remote Desktop Services.

Remote Desktop Gateway

Remote Desktop Gateway (RD Gateway) (formerly Terminal Services Gateway) allows users to securely connect through the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) over HTTPS (SSL).

More details about the Remote Desktop Services can be found in this TechNet article.

I hope I haven’t confused you with all these Remote Desktop terms. Sorry, but I didn’t invent this somewhat puzzling terminology. Sleep on it, rehearse everything in the morning, and you will be ready for my next post about Microsoft’s three VDI solutions In-Box VDI, VDI Standard Suite, and VDI Premium Suite.

• FREE: Remote Desktop Manager – Manage remote connections (4)
• FREE: mRemoteNG – Open source, multi-protocol, remote connection manager (4)
• Free RDP manager – Royal TS (9)
• How to move an App-V database to another SQL server (1)
• FREE: Remote Desktop Connection Manager – An RDP client (5)

Another advertised advantage of the new feature is ease of portability between physical and virtual, theoretically, you should be able to run the contents of a Virtual Machine on bare metal. But don’t expect, it’s going to be easy. Chances are that your computer will hang when starting from a VHD, you created using Virtual PC or Hyper-V. That’s because the virtual hardware may differ from the physical one. Additionally, paravirtualized drivers used to accelerate Windows in a VM pose a problem when booting an existing VHD physically. In many cases you will end up sysprep-ing your VHD before porting it over to the physical /virtual world.

But back to VHD Boot as a more flexible way to install multiple OS on a PC. If you need a test or demo environment, how does VHD Boot stack up against alternatives most people use in this case? Since the advent of Desktop Virtualization, partitioning a hard disk and using a boot manager to switch between operating systems may not be your favorite choice. But, in many cases, it is still superior to VHD Boot.  The implementation of the new feature can’t live up to the high expectations. The following feature comparison shows that you are probably better off using a solution like VMware Workstation, Virtual Box or Virtual PC instead of VHD Boot.

German readers might want to read the original posting on windowspro.de

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As an administrator you are probably dreading the possible transition from Windows XP to Windows 7 at your company, except this time you won’t have to worry Microsoft has been thinking about you for while developing Windows 7.

Microsoft got the message after the debacle with Windows Vista and its lack of success to attract larger businesses to transition from XP to Vista. In order to make that transition simpler, Microsoft has provided Windows 7 users with the capability to run a virtualized, fully licensed copy of Windows XP for program capability.

Using Virtual PC Beta and Windows XP Mode Beta (separate downloads) users will be able to run applications that may not be fully compatible with Windows 7. Applications running inside the virtual machine are fully integrated into the host operating system. Users won’t realize that the application is running in a virtual environment and when they save a file it is automatically stored on the host file system.

I only hope that Microsoft decides to integrate this tool into the operating system instead of forcing administrators to worry about two other applications to install for the computers they manage.

The guide below will walk you through the configuration and use of this extremely valuable tool. If you have any comments or questions, please post them below.

Before you get started make sure that your computer has a CPU with the Intel Virtualization Technology or AMD-V feature turned on. You will also need 2GB of RAM and 15GB of Hard disk space.

Please download and install Windows Virtual PC Beta and Windows XP Mode Beta from Microsoft.

Setup

1. Go to the Start Menu, click All Programs.

2. Expand Windows Virtual PC and click on Virtual Windows XP.

3. Add a check mark to accept license terms and click on the Next button to proceed.

4. Enter the Virtual Windows XP password you wish to use and add check mark to the Remember credentials check box. Click Next to proceed.

Note: Enabling Remember credentials will keep you from having to enter this information again in the future.

5. As with any operating system, make sure you enable Automatic Updates, click Next to proceed.

During setup you will see a series of three screens similar to the one pictured above.

Once setup is complete you will have a copy of Windows XP on your Windows 7 desktop

Using Virtual Windows XP

Virtual Windows XP will allow you to run applications within the Virtual PC window, but it will also allow you to run the applications without having to start up the Windows XP machine. I downloaded and installed Firefox to demonstrate. Before you open the virtual copy of the Firefox application, you must first shut down the Virtual Windows XP window.

Note: In order for application shortcuts to automatically appear in the host Start menu, the shortcuts must be in the Start menu of the Virtual Windows XP. You can only run either an instance of Virtual Windows XP or a Virtual Application, you can’t run both simultaneously.

1. Close Virtual Windows XP by clicking on Ctrl + Alt +Del from the top menu.

2. Click on the Shut Down button.

3. If you wish to choose another action, select it from the drop-down menu and click OK.

4. Now that the Virtual Windows XP window is closed head on over to the host PC’s Start menu. Click on the Start button, All Programs.

5. Click on Windows Virtual PC > Virtual Windows XP Applications > Mozilla Firefox (or application of your choice), click on the application link.

Note: In order for application shortcuts to automatically appear in the host Start menu, the shortcuts must be in the Start menu of the Virtual Windows XP. You can only run either an instance of Virtual Windows XP or a Virtual Application, you can’t run both simultaneously.

The window pictured above will appear…

Firefox will open in a Virtual Windows XP window.

Configuring Level of Integration

1. To set the level of integration between the Virtual Widows XP application and the host PC, click on Tools > Settings while the Virtual Windows XP window is open.

2. Click on Integration Features on the left and add/remove check marks to the different features available. Click OK to save the settings when you are done making your selections.

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One of the major disadvantages of desktop virtualization is that that the end user’s device requires a permanent connection to the backend where the virtual desktop is running. Furthermore, display protocols such as RDP and ICA still have problems with many applications. Brian acknowledges these problems and speculates that bare-metal client hypervisors might solve these problems in the future.

If I understand him right, the idea is to run virtual desktops, not on servers, but on the client’s bare-metal hypervisor. This sounds like an interesting alternative. However, isn’t it one of the main benefits of VDI that you don’t require expensive fat desktops anymore? Of course, if you run Vista on a bare-metal client hypervisor, you require an even more powerful desktop computer because of the virtualization overhead. In addition, you have to deploy the OS to all of your desktops, just like you do it nowadays.

So what is the point of virtualizing a desktop OS on the desktop? This is Brian’s answer:

But the important take-away is that true desktop management bliss will require a client-side hypervisor BECAUSE we want to be able to run a single disk image on many different kinds of devices, and we don’t want to have to manage a second client OS in addition to our main disk image.

It is the “single disk image on many different kinds of devices” that is supposed to simplify desktop management. Regular readers of my blog have already probably noticed what is wrong about this argument. It is not first time that I have encountered this logic. Actually, the “single image argument” is often the first argument put forward when VDI supporters start enumerating the advantages of desktop virtualization.

I must admit that I find it rather strange that this argument is still alive two years after Vista’s release. It demonstrates that Microsoft has a real marketing problem with Vista. I think I am not exaggerating if I say that Vista revolutionized desktop management. What is fascinating is how few IT pros know about it or how many undervalue its importance.

The fact that a highly respected professional like Brian Madden talks about “single image”, without even mentioning that Vista has exactly this feature, shows that Microsoft really has to do more to spread the news about Vista’s imaging capabilities. In the way he talks about offline VDI, we have to conclude that Vista already supports it. Of course, you can use one Vista image for all kinds of devices including virtual ones. Thus, in this sense, Vista has a built-in bare-metal client hypervisor.

I already hear the Vista opponents out there: “But we don’t like Vista, we want Windows XP!” Well, do you really think it makes sense to introduce VDI plus a client-based hypervisor just because you don’t like Vista?

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I admit that I only had a vague idea of application virtualization before I actually started testing different products. It was only when I saw how easy it is to virtualize applications that I became more interested in this technology. I suppose the relatively low poll participation can be explained by the fact that many admins don’t really know what application virtualization is. Thus, they just ignored this poll when they stumbled across it. Perhaps if I had added a third possible answer like “I don’t know,” participation would have been higher.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The high number of positive answers can be explained in two ways. Among those who already had experience with application virtualization, the majority was convinced of its benefits. Another factor certainly was that I published a long series on this topic shortly before I ran the poll. Even though I also discussed the disadvantages of application virtualization, my overall assessment of this technology was positive. I guess if someone with a more critical attitude had written these articles the poll result would have been different.

Nevertheless, 69% can’t be explained away. I do believe that application virtualization will find its way into many corporate networks and the public Internet. I even think that virtualized Windows applications are an alternative to Web apps and RIAs (Rich Internet Applications) as well. Perhaps Microsoft should have focused on this technology instead of Silverlight. From the user’s perspective, it doesn’t make a difference whether a RIA or a virtualized Windows app is streamed to the desktop. However, the advantage of application virtualization is that almost every existing Windows application could be transformed easily into an online application.

• How to move an App-V database to another SQL server (1)
• Microsoft VDI – Resources (2)
• Microsoft VDI – Interview with Jeff Alexander (0)
• Microsoft VDI – Interview with Michael Kleef (0)
• Does VDI reduce costs? (9)

I don’t want to influence your decision too much, thus I will keep this post short. I just want to add one further note. The funny thing about application virtualization is that it brings us back to the pre-Windows period. Do you remember the good old DOS times when applications were residing on a Novel Netware server? No installation was required on desktop computers, the term “registry” was only associated with public authorities, and administrators (called supervisors at the time) didn’t have the slightest idea that, only a few years later, Microsoft would send them to “DLL hell!”

In a way, application virtualization turns the clock back. Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea at all to integrate applications into the operating system? Well, the fact that application virtualization also has its downsides shows that the answer to this question isn’t that simple.

I suppose most of you don’t have experience with application virtualization yet, but I hope the articles I wrote about this topic gave you an overview about this technology. I am curious to know what you think about it.

To take part in this poll, it doesn’t matter whether you read the articles in my series or not. Also, if you don’t know what application virtualization is, you can vote as well. I suppose your answer will simply be “No” then.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

• How to move an App-V database to another SQL server (1)
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• Microsoft VDI – Interview with Michael Kleef (0)
• Does VDI reduce costs? (9)

Settings: You might want to allow end users to configure their applications or install plug-ins by themselves. This means that they have to have the ability to modify the virtual environment. The various products solve this problem in different ways. Some tools allow you to store these settings on a server, thereby supporting application roaming.

Linking: This feature is related to the one above. Some products enable you to link virtualized apps. For example, one virtual environment could host the .Net Framework for .Net apps running in other virtualized environments. This feature can also be used to deploy add-ons. The more sophisticated solutions enable you to centrally manage the links between virtualized apps for your whole network. For instance, you could assign the Google Toolbar to a certain user group with just a mouse click.

Shell integration: This is the tricky part of application virtualization. How can you add the apps icons to the Start Menu? How can you associate file types with virtualized apps? These are the questions you will have to address if you work with software virtualization. Because virtualized apps are not installed, you have to integrate them into the shell by other means. Most solutions use MSI files for this purpose. However, this contradicts the spirit of software virtualization. Some solutions are able to virtualize the shell integration as well.

Driver support: Most software virtualization products don’t support apps that come with their own device drivers. For example, VPN solutions often install their own network drivers.

Terminal Server support: The more desktop apps you install on a server the more unstable it will become. Therefore, it makes sense to work with application virtualization solutions in a Terminal Server environment. Not all vendors explicitly support this feature.

Compression: Usually the packager compresses the virtual environment in order to minimize bandwidth usage. If this is important to you, I recommend measuring the effectiveness of the compression algorithm.

OLE capabilities: Copy and paste functionality is an important feature. However, if you allow end users to transfer data between apps, security may be reduced. If OLE capabilities are a necessary feature for you, you should check if the solution supports copy and paste and if it works properly for all your applications.

Portal: Especially if you work with streaming, it might be useful for you to offer end users a portal from which they can launch all applications.

Licensing: Since virtualized applications are not installed, you usually only have to pay license fees if an end user actually requests an app from a server. This might turn out to be useful in your environment if the product of your choice supports license management.

User assignment: Some products allow you to assign applications to users or user groups. End users can then launch only those apps that have been assigned to them. Sophisticated solutions display virtualized apps only to those users who have the proper access rights.

Degrees of virtualization: Some tools allow you to configure the degree of virtualization. For example, you can specify which folders of the OS will be virtualized, if apps can communicate with each other, etc.

Zero footprint: If security is the main reason why you want to introduce software virtualization, you probably will prefer a solution that changes nothing on the host system. This means that the virtualized application has to run completely in memory without writing to the hard disk at all.

Patch management: Because virtualized applications are not installed, you usually can’t update them with a common patch management tool. Some virtualization solutions offer features to update virtualized applications. If a product doesn’t have this functionality you have to create a new package whenever the software vendor of the application issues a new patch.

Company size: The size of the company can also be an important factor to consider. A small company might not exist in two years. If they haven’t been swallowed by a bigger fish, then you will have to move to another solution, which costs time and money. However, the small vendors often offer better support. It is much easier to get in touch with the guys who really know their product. Those companies that have only one product are sometimes more dynamic and come out with new product versions in shorter cycles.

Did I miss an important feature? Please let me know.

• How to move an App-V database to another SQL server (1)
• Microsoft VDI – Resources (2)
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• Does VDI reduce costs? (9)

Thus, if you have to evaluate some of the products, you can use this feature list to make sure that the solution of your choice supports everything you need in your environment. This post covers the conceptual differences between the various application virtualization products. In my next my post I will discuss the special features. Please note that it is not always obvious to which list a certain feature belongs.

Virtualization technology: The ways in which the various products isolate the virtualized application from the operating system differ considerably. Some solutions integrate the virtualized environment into the operating system. As long as the virtualization layer is active they are indistinguishable from installed applications. All system changes will disappear only when you disable the application. Other software virtualization solutions entirely isolate the virtualized application from the host. In this case, you cannot even see the processes of the virtualized app with operating system tools.

Application isolation: Many features depend on the virtualization technology. For example, if you want to be able to run different versions of the same application simultaneously on a desktop computer, you have to make sure that all virtualized applications are completely isolated during runtime.

Agent: It usually takes more time to set up the corresponding infrastructure if the solution requires an agent to be installed on all clients.

Software deployment: Often products that require an agent are complete software deployment solutions. If you already have a client management tool it would probably be overkill to introduce a second system. Perhaps you want to switch entirely to software virtualization. In this case it might make sense to also change your desktop management tool. These specialized software distribution solutions better harmonize with application virtualization.

Single executable: Solutions without agent usually pack the whole virtualized application in just one executable. This simplifies deployment of the virtualized application in some environments.

Portability: Usually those products allow you to launch the virtualized app from a memory stick or a CD/DVD.

Steaming: This feature allows you to download only those parts of an app that are required for its start. Additional blocks will be downloaded whenever you access further program functions. Some solutions support bidirectional streaming. Changes to the virtual environment are then uploaded to the server.

Streaming protocol: Thus far I have encountered four different protocols that are used by application streaming solutions: HTTP, HTTPS, SMB, and RSTP. If you evaluate a streaming solution you might want to check out how well it performs and how much bandwidth it needs.

Offline mode: Some streaming solutions enable you to run apps in offline mode. In this case the whole application will be downloaded to the client. This feature will make clients less dependent on the availability of the network and the servers.

Package creation: There are two different ways by which an application can be virtualized: the packager compares the snapshots taken before and after the installation, or the packager intercepts all operations of the original installation program. The latter option is more reliable because differences between the master PC and the target computer are less important.

• How to move an App-V database to another SQL server (1)
• Microsoft VDI – Resources (2)
• Microsoft VDI – Interview with Jeff Alexander (0)
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• Does VDI reduce costs? (9)

A new complexity layer: Most Windows apps were not developed to run in a virtual environment. This might cause unforeseen problems. Whenever problems occur, you will wonder whether the app itself or the virtualized environment is the cause.

Vendor might deny support: If you tell your vendor that you are running their application in a virtual environment, they might deny support.

Problematic apps: Some apps, especially those installing their own system drivers, don’t work as virtualized applications. Note that there are differences between the different application virtualization solutions here. Some are more robust than others.

Shell integration: One reason that applications are installed is because they have to be integrated in the Windows shell. Since virtualized apps are not installed on the host, shell integration has to be established by other means. All virtualization products offer solutions for this problem, but it usually means extra work. How much extra time you to have to invest in this depends on the product and the application.

More work for you: Application virtualization can simplify many admin tasks. However, it is a new technology which you have to learn first. Complex virtualization solutions require a lot of preparation in advance. If you can’t give up your current software deployment solution, it will mean extra work for you.

Changes to your infrastructure: Many things work differently with virtualized apps. For example, you might not be able to use your current patch management solution anymore.

Single point of failure: Launching apps from a server has its advantages, but network outages or server problems increase the risk of system-wide failures. You can usually copy virtualized apps to the desktops, but then you give away one of the benefits of software virtualization.

Bandwidth requirements: Streaming apps to end users is an interesting technology. You just have to make sure that you always have the necessary bandwidth available.

Costs: Prices of application virtualization solutions range from $30 to $100 per client.

The importance of each point depends heavily on your environment. Hence, just one of the disadvantages might be a knockdown argument for you. Of course, various application virtualization solutions also differ in the way they deal with the disadvantages listed here. Even though I see the risks of this relatively new technology, I can imagine introducing software virtualization in my organization. In my opinion, the biggest downside is the cost. At the moment, I don’t see how we could give up our current software deployment solution (SMS) which would mean additional costs for us.

In the next two posts in this series I will discuss the features and the differences between application virtualization products.

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• Does VDI reduce costs? (9)

No installation required: Installing an application on hundreds or thousands of computers is prone to error. Application virtualization simplifies software deployment.

Application retirement simplified: Getting rid of an app in your whole network is much easier as well. Since virtual apps just have to be deleted, uninstalling them is usually not required.

No more application conflicts: Sometimes installing an app corrupts another app. Application virtualization helps reduce the risks of application conflicts.

No registry and system bloat: The more apps you install on a desktop, the more bloated its registry and system folder will get. This makes the computer slower and increases the risk of failures. Application virtualization lets the registry and the system folder untouched.

Multiple runtime environments: You can deploy the runtime environment together with the application. This enables you to run different versions of a runtime environment on a desktop. For example, you can run different Java versions simultaneously without messing around with environment variables.

Multiple versions of the same application: For instance, end users can run Word 2003 and Word 2007 at the same time.

Deploy apps on unmanaged computers: If clients or partners have to use an app to access the services of your organization, you can just send them an executable where you have already configured everything for them.

Application updates: You can update the virtualized application at a central location on your servers. This means you have to update an app only once and not on all of your desktops.

Rollback: If an app no longer works properly on a user’s desktop because he or she changed too many settings or installed incompatible add-ons, you can just reset the app to its original state.

Simplified roaming: Some products allow you to store settings and data belonging to the app in the virtual environment on a server or a memory stick. This way, end users can access their apps with their own settings regardless on which desktop they logon. This is also possible if you are not working with roaming user profiles.

Simplified OS deployment: Deploying a new OS in your network doesn’t affect the applications. Also, if you have to reinstall an image on a desktop, you don’t have to worry about the apps running on this machine because end users can just access them on the server.

Integration with desktop virtualization: Software virtualization and desktop virtualization perfectly harmonize because these technologies allow you to separate the OS deployment process from software distribution.

Reduced regression testing: Once you know that your app works in the virtual environment, you don’t have to make sure that it works on all of the different desktop variations in your network. Changes on desktops usually don’t have an effect on the virtualized apps.

Improved security: Virtualized apps are isolated from the operating system and from each other. This way, malware can’t infect other parts of the system, easily .

Helpdesk support: Helpdesk personnel can easily access all available apps in your organization and can run the app in the same environment as end users.

Operating system independent: Virtualized apps are often OS independent. If you have apps that are Vista incompatible, then application virtualization might be your solution. Application virtualization also paves the way for Vista x64. Legacy apps that wouldn’t work on a 64-bit-system might run without problems on Vista x64 in a virtual environment. Together with Wine and Crossover, you can also run complex Windows apps on Linux and OS X.

End users require only minimal privileges: Legacy apps that require admin rights usually work in environments where end-users only have standard rights.

This is quite an impressive list of advantages. Don’t you think so? Did I forget something? Please, let me know. The list of disadvantages is coming soon. Stay tuned!

• How to move an App-V database to another SQL server (1)
• Microsoft VDI – Resources (2)
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• Does VDI reduce costs? (9)

Symantec purchased AppStream some months ago and renamed their streaming solution. It is a bit strange that the new name contains “Altiris,” because this is another company recently acquired by Symantec. It seems like Symantec wants to keep the well-known Altiris brand alive. Like AppStream, Altiris Streaming System 5.2.2 allows you to stream not only virtualized Altiris applications (SVS apps), but also “conventional applications.” The corresponding packages have to be created with the Streaming Composer (a tool that comes with the Streaming System). There are three ways to package conventional apps, i.e. programs that are not virtualized. You can import an MSI file, track the application’s installation procedure, or create snapshots before and after the installation of the application. I won’t discuss streaming of conventional apps in this article because I want to focus on application virtualization in this series.

Creating a streaming package of an SVS app is fairly simple. All you have to do is to import the corresponding VSA file in the Streaming Composer, which you already created with Altiris Software Virtualization Solution. I described the virtualization process in my post about Altiris SVS, so I won’t describe it again today. It is interesting to note that a streaming package is just an ordinary ZIP file. Thus you can examine its contents under Windows by just double clicking on it. Of course it contains not only the application’s files but also additional information from the packager.

This ZIP package has to be imported in the Altiris SVS Professional Streaming Console, a web-based application for configuring the Streaming System. In the next step, you have to associate this package with single users or user groups. You can create users manually or access the user database of an LDAP source. For example, you can work with OpenLDAP, Novell eDirectory, and Active Directory. I used the latter option for my test.

End users can access the applications that have been assigned to them with a web browser by navigating to the Altiris Streaming Portal. This works fine with Firefox and Internet Explorer. The only difference is that Firefox users have to first authenticate manually. IE users who are logged on to an Active Directory domain are authenticated automatically at the Portal. If you click on an application for the first time, the Altiris Streaming agent will be automatically installed on the client PC. Unfortunately, the computer has to be rebooted afterwards.

I suppose that in the case of conventional applications everything is ready for streaming programs after the Streaming agent has been installed. However, virtualized apps also need the SVS agent. I couldn’t find a way to deploy this agent via the Streaming Console. It seems that one has to install it manually or with a software deployment solution. At this point, it becomes obvious that Altiris SVS and the Streaming System were originally tools from two different vendors. I assume that future versions will correct this downside.

Once the Streaming and the SVS agent are installed, virtualized applications can be launched via the Portal or directly through icons on the desktop. It is also possible to pre-populate icons to desktops so end users don’t always have to check the Portal for new apps. The Streaming agent comes with a user interface that allows you to view the cache of streamed applications. It displays the amount of bytes that have been already transmitted and allows you to remove applications from the streaming cache. With Firefox, 55% – 60% had to be cached before the program was ready to be launched. I didn’t find a way to empty the cache from the Streaming System console though.

You can configure applications to download completely to the client’s cache when it is started for the first time. Only then it is possible to run the program offline. Note that offline mode doesn’t entail that you can copy a virtualized application onto a memory stick and run it on another computer like with other application virtualization solutions; Altiris SVS doesn’t have this feature.

However, the Altiris Streaming System has many other interesting functions. What I like most are its license management capabilities. They enable you to assign licenses to applications, users, or computers. You can enforce license compliance, and you can set expiry dates or trial periods. The Altiris Streaming System also supports concurrent licensing which allows you to limit the number of users who can work with an application simultaneously. The reporting features are also quite sophisticated. It is possible to extract any information you can imagine about application usage. You can generate reports about licensing, applications, users, and user groups.

Small and mid-sized organizations won’t find it difficult to deploy the Altiris Streaming System. However, is also has features to offer for large enterprises. It is possible to run the different server components such as the Streaming Server (streams the apps to the clients), the Launch Server (generates the HTML pages for the portal), and the Streamlet Engine (central data store which can be MySQL, SQL Server, or PostgreSQL) on different nodes. Servers can be grouped together and organized in a tree configuration. The best thing is that you can manage everything from a single console.

As mentioned above, the Streaming System is also able to deploy MSI packages, which makes it a complete software delivery solution. The streaming of virtualized applications is just an additional feature. Unfortunately, its management capabilities with regard to Altiris SVS are quite limited. For example, you can’t deactivate SVS layers centrally with its console. For this you have to use the command line tool that comes with Altiris SVS. If you are a scripting geek, you will like this method. If you are a busy admin, then probably not. However, in most scenarios, Streaming System’s features will be sufficient to deploy virtualized applications.

Another problem I see is that there are quite a few steps to perform, using different tools, until the virtualized application is ready for streaming. Application virtualization is most interesting for organizations that have to deploy numerous different programs. Thus, these many different steps might add up over time. However, its only real weak point is that it is not possible to deploy the SVS Agent. Symantec definitely should add this feature to the next version. Overall, my impression of Symantec’s streaming solution is positive. This means something because I am not usually a big fan of web-based administration consoles.

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