Microsoft App-V 4.5 SP2 was released last week and is now available for download. The “About SP2” topic is http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff699129.aspx and the SP2 release notes topic is http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff699130.aspx.
For information on Microsoft application Virtualization 4.5 Service Pack 2, how to get it and the known issues, see the following KB article:
KB980847 - Description of Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 Service Pack 2
Microsoft released App-V 4.6 for RDS Whitepaper.
This whitepaper discusses the benefits, configurations and considerations when planning a Microsoft® Windows Server® Remote Desktop Services solution with Microsoft Application Virtualization.
You can download the whitepaper here.
Microsoft just announced the immediate availability of Microsoft App-V 4.5 SP2:
App-V 4.5 Service Pack 2 provides the latest updates to Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 code line. This is the first time the team has delivered via Windows Update App-V 4.5 SP2 introduces:
To learn more you can get all the details straight from the source.
Consider the following scenario:
In this scenario, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 removes all virtual applications that are published to the client without any warning.
This behavior is by design but to learn more and see what your options are check out the KB article below:
KB983255: App-V applications are removed when the “Allow virtual application package advertisement” option is enabled in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2
Here you can find some useful resources to plan and design Citrix environments.
The following resources provide a best-practices based approach to designing virtualization environments based on Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop technologies:
Microsoft announced that Microsoft Application Virtualization will be available as a new family in WSUS. According to the WSUS Product Team blog:
We will be adding a new product family to your WSUS server –Microsoft Application Virtualization. The Microsoft Application Virtualization product family will include updates for all Microsoft Application Virtualization products. It will include a variety of update types, e.g. service packs, optional updates, critical updates and security updates. Additionally, Microsoft Application Virtualization updates will be available through Microsoft Update and the Microsoft Update Catalog http://catalog.update.microsoft.com.
A new product category will be added to your WSUS server under the Microsoft Application Virtualization family, entitled Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5. The Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 category will allow all classifications of updates to be offered to the Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 product. You will see this new category when new updates are available for this product.
For all the details you can check out the source here
ften, App-V administrators will leverage multiple App-V Management Servers sharing a common database. The process usually involves pointing additional server to the existing SQL server and database during installation. Key databases values that govern server behavior will be stored in the DBO.SERVERS and DBO.SOFTGRID_SERVERS tables.
These settings can also be configured using the App-V Server Management Console (navigating to Application Virtualization Systems-
This allows you to pre-create a server object with specific values configured in advance. This allows for smoother deployment of App-V server farms for high availability. When you pre-create a server object using the wizard, you have the option of setting the following values:
Display Name
DNS Host Name
Memory Allocation
RTSP Security/Certificate
RTSP/RTSPS Port
During installation of the additional App-V server (matches the DNS hostname,) an administrator will point to the existing database and the corresponding server record will also be slightly modified.
So what is modified?
There are additional values not specified in the MMC interface that govern behavior of the App-V Server. The key values are specified in the tables below where each table represents a list of values contained inside of the App-V SQL data store that are affected by this process.
For each value, an explanation of what the default value will be is included depending on how the server object is created.
Pre-created Values: This refers to the vales that will be put in upon server object pre-creation in the App-V console (navigating to Application Virtualization Systems-
New Installation Values: These are the values that will be put in place if you simply bypass pre-creation of the server object and let the installation process create that server object during installation.
Value when installed after pre-creation: These are the values that reflect changes to the pre-created defaults. If you notice in the table, some are modified during installation, others are not.
Table: List of server object values affected by pre-creation process (yet not configurable in the MMC.)
Dbo.SERVERS
Value
Pre-Created Values
New Installation Values
Value when installed after pre-creation
Version
2.1.0.1
Version of Server
Version of Server
Root_path
./content
./content
Max_conn
100
1000
100
Dbo.SOFTGRID_SERVERS
Value
Pre-Created Values
New Installation Values
Value when installed post pre-creation
Core_procs
3
5
3
Core_timeout
10
120
10
Why is this important to know?
With these values having suboptimal configuration values, this could create some potential server problems. While the core_procs (Number of Core Processes) value is configurable in the MMC, it is still listed here as an important configuration value to double-check as it too is affected by the pre-creation process.
Here are some common issues that can arise from inconsistent and sub-optimal server configuration values:
· Inconsistent server behavior in server farm or load-balanced configuration: If you are working with a load-balanced or any similar configuration to establish high availability, ensuring that configuring is consistent across the board is a necessity. This can be a problem especially is the max_conns and core_procs values differentiate.
· Periodic/Intermittent loss of database connectivity: If multiple servers are sharing the same back-end SQL database, you may have issues with some servers who may have the core_timeout value set to low losing database connectivity (especially for geographically dispersed App-V servers.
· Service may fail to start: This can also happen if the core_timeout value is set too low (such as 10)
· General Performance issues: With the max_conn, core_timeout, and core_procs set too low (such as the case when pre-created server objects are used,) general performance issues will arise and there will be a significant difference in overall performance versus servers configured with the default installation values (without server object pre-creation.)
Recommendations:
For the reasons mentioned above, it is recommended that you bypass server pre-creation and have the server installation process create the server record.
If you find your App-V server environment is already in this inconsistent state, you can modify these values to reflect the recommended default values using SQLCMD or SQL Management Studio.
The Microsoft Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V enables Office 2010 client products to be sequenced and deployed with Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V).
The Microsoft Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V is required for sequencing and deploying Office 2010 client products with Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V). This kit includes the components required for Office license activation.
This product must be installed on the App-V sequencing station prior to monitoring the Office 2010 client installation.
This product must also be installed on the client machines to which virtualized Office 2010 client packages will be deployed. It can be configured to enable certain system components to interact with virtualized Office 2010, including:
For all the details and to download the deployment kit see this link.
Additional Information:
The Office 2010 App-V RTM Recipe is available as a KB article here:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/983462
The Office 2010 App-v Deployment kit is available from the Microsoft Download center athttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=479f12f2-5678-493e-bce1-682b3ece5431
Curious on how to build a Windows 7, Office 2010 and App-V Proof of Concept? Check out the guidance here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/ff603537.aspx
Just a quick heads-up that the Application Virtualization Sequencing SuperFlow has been released. So what’s a SuperFlow? Think flowchart, but cooler and better. The SuperFlow series “is an interactive content model that provides a structured and interactive interface for viewing documentation.” The App-V SuperFlow that we just released visually maps out the sequencing process, and each section provides the relevant documentation, as well as instructions, for that part of the sequencing process. I have an example screenshot below:
The Resources tab has shortcuts to the App-V TechCenter, Documentation, Forums, and this blog. For more details and to download the App-V Sequencing SuperFlow visit the download center here.
Microsoft App-V Team recently uncovered this issue and they’re going to be publishing a Knowledge Base article on it very soon.
Uninstallation of the Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.6 desktop client may fail with no specific error message given. If you collect a verbose MSI log you may see the following:
SoftGrid Action: IsRuntimePackagePolicyCfgValid Details: NET_DOTIMEOUTMINUTES(#0) is invalid
Also note that you can see this same issue when trying to upgrade a previous version of the App-V client to version 4.6.
This is a known issue with the App-V client versions 4.5 and later.
To resolve this issue you will need to modify the registry entry for the Disconnected Operation Timeout in the registry.
1. For x86 clients, open Regedit and navigate to the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Softgrid\4.5\Client\Network\
For 64-bit clients, open Regedit and navigate to the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Client\Network
2. Change the DOTimeoutMinutes value to the default which is 129600 (Decimal) or 1fa40 (Hex).
3. Reboot the client.
Once rebooted, you should now be able to successfully uninstall the App-V client.
