SoftGrid 4.5 AKA App-V

Having been lucky enough to receive the training for SoftGrid 4.2 from the Softricity guys pre-Microsoft purchase, I have long been a fan of SoftGrid. So when I saw the Technet blog entry (http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/archive/2008/09/03/microsoft-application-virtualization-4-5-rtms.aspx) for the new version of SoftGrid 4.5 or App-V as it is now known, I looked forward to being able to have the time to install it.

After registering on the Microsoft Connect Web Site (https://connect.microsoft.com/) I downloaded the App-V installation files ready to install into my home lab.

In order to get the environment ready I checked through the documentation for the Trial System Requirements (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=aa787491-8d08-4d2f-8960-9e9f00226c7e&DisplayLang=en). As in the previous version of SoftGrid the following components are required:

Server Components:

Active Directory – DNS & Group Policies specifically

Microsoft Application Virtualization Sequencer – The Sequencer is the brains of SoftGrid. This will “record” changes to the system when installing a new application, this creates the SoftGrid package for the application.

Microsoft System Center Application Virtualization Server – If the Sequencer is the brains of SoftGrid, this server is the heart. This is the server where the packages are imported and permissions are set.

Content Share – This share is where all the packages create in the Sequencer are stored and then where they are imported into the Application Virtualization Server. This share needs to be accessible to all clients too.

Clients:

Microsoft Application Virtualization for Terminal Services – The client to allow streaming to Terminal Servers

Microsoft Application Virtualization for Desktops – The client to allow streaming to desktop clients.

So to get App-V up and running I will be creating one new Windows 2003 virtual machine for the Microsoft System Center Application Virtualization Server, this will have a local installation of SQL Express 2005 for the database, a Content share and the Application Virtualization Server console.

I will then create a second Windows 2003 virtual machine for the Sequencer, this will have just the base OS and Sequencer software installed on the C: drive. I will then add a second disk, setup as the Q: drive in the OS, an independent persistent disk. I did consider using a non-persistent disk, as in an ideal world the Sequencer will process any installation reboots for applications without having to reboot the actual VM. Having seen applications where sometimes the actual reboot is needed by the package I am going use snapshots instead. I will take a snapshot of the base VM and then revert to that once an application is sequenced.

I already have AD and a Terminal Server so will just install the client on the Terminal Server.

Once I have the environment up and running I will do another post with details of what I have sequenced and how I am finding the new version.