Dario IT Solutions Blog

Hi guys,

We held two open houses this week, one on February 22nd at MediaTech Haifa and the other on February 24th at Microsoft Raanana.

I would like to thank the large number of people who attended, it was great hearing your comments and questions.

Attached below are all the PowerPoint decks from the events:

The following issues are fixed in the Hotfix package:

• Empty virtual directories may become inaccessible. This behavior causes later file operations on that virtual directory to fail and to generate the following error message:

  

• When you try to run ArcGIS as a virtual application, ArcGIS may stop responding on some systems.
• When you use Symantec Endpoint Protection, and the Application and Device Control feature is enabled, virtual applications may not start and may generate the following error message: The application failed to initialize properly (0xc000007b)

   

• When you try to run SmarTerm Essentials as a virtual application, SmarTerm Essentials may not start because it cannot validate its license.

get this new Hotfix Package here: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=959834

Microsoft had publish the new resource Kit for the Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5.

Here are the new Tools:

• Application Virtualization Dynamic Suite Composition Tool

Use the Dynamic Suite Composition tool to edit the Open Software Descriptor (.osd) file associated with a virtual application package to create the inter-package dependencies.

• Application Virtualization Cache Resizing Tool

Use the Cache Configuration Tool to configure settings associated with App-V client cache.

• Application Virtualization SFT Parser Tool

Use the SFT Parser Tool to extract the following information from SFT files:

1. Validation of SFT files – Process corrupted SFT files, and recover information from corrupted SFT files.
2. XML export of contents of SFT – Export the contents of an existing SFT file. You can evaluate SFT segments or SFT metadata and construct a textual tree view of all file information SFT file.
3. Listing of all of the files in the SFT – Identify and print the files contained in the SFT with their full paths. This is a good method to quickly identify the contents of a package.
4. Statistics about properties of the SFT metadata – Identify statistical information, such the largest file contained in a package. This can be very useful for identifying packages that are too large in size and are causing issues loading on the client.
5. Get relevant information on a file in the package – Display size, timestamps, attributes, and version information associated with the package.
6. Ability to skip processing of file data if using functionality that requires only the metadata – Allows working with very large packages quickly.

• Application Virtualization Client Log Parser Tool

Use the Client Log Parser utility to extract log entries from one or more application virtualization client logs.

• Application Virtualization Application Listing Tool

Use the Application Listing Tool to display a list of virtualized applications that are currently running.

get all the tools here.

Two new IPD guides has been published:

1. Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 with R2
2. Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5

Download them from the following link.

Following Microsoft announcement of App-v 4.5 RTM (known previously as “Soft Grid”) from the beginning of September, Microsoft just publish the Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) for this version.

Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) is a series of planning and design guides created to clarify and streamline the planning and design process for Microsoft infrastructure technologies.

The App-v 4.5 RTM will be include as part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2008 R2 that will be available in the next couple of weeks (for more information about MDOP 2008 R2 read our post).

You can find the new App-V 4.5 IPD guide as well as IPD guides for OpsMgr 2007, Active Directory, IIS and much much more at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AD3921FB-8224-4681-9064-075FDF042B0C&displaylang=en.

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2008 R2 has been released to manufacturing (RTM) and will be available to download in the next couple of weeks.

This version of MDOP will include the highly acclaimed Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 (also called App-V) but there are a lot of other new and useful upgrades and improvements in MDOP 2008 R2 as well:

Asset Inventory Service 1.5 (AIS)

Asset Inventory Service is a hosted inventory service that scans and analyzes all the applications on customers� desktops and translates inventory data into useful and actionable information. Basically, it�s a company-wide monitor that allows customers to track the software that they have deployed within their organization. With 1.5, customers can now see license reconciliation along with inventory information. This allows them to clearly see if all software deployed within their enterprise is compliant with license agreements. Having deployment and licensing information in one place is critical to software asset management, specifically when looking at true-ups, renewals, and license reallocation. This new version of the service will be available in November 2008.

Advanced Group Policy Management 3.0 (AGPM)

Advanced Group Policy Management 3.0, which enables governance and change controls over the deployment of group policy objects in your IT environment, adds customizable permissions to enforce the use of the Group Policy change management tool within an organization. This new feature gives AGPM administrators the ability to customize the permissions that are set on production GPOs controlled by AGPM. Enhanced Tracking allows customers to use AGPM for compliance with branch specific regulations. The new version of AGPM is compatible with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1, and offers full support for 64 bit machines, as well as and the newly introduced Group Policy Preferences. It�s a major overhaul that makes AGPM a true �must-have.�

Check out the October issue of Technet Magazine. it was dedicated to Virtualization and has some good articles in it:

Virtualization: An Introduction to Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008

The introduction of Hyper-V makes virtualization an even more compelling solution for IT environments. Get an overview of today�s virtualization market and see how Hyper-V improves the manageability, reliability, and security of virtualization Rajiv Arunkundram

Virtualization: Manage Your Virtual Environments with VMM 2008

System Center Virtual Machine Manager provides a consolidated interface for managing your virtual infrastructure. The latest version adds support for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, as well as for VMware virtual machines. Explore the new features and get an overview of using VMM to centralize your management tasks. Edwin Yuen

Virtualization: Getting Started with Microsoft Application Virtualization

Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) allows you to deliver virtualized desktops to client systems throughout your organization. This simplifies system management and liberates employees from their desktops. Take a close look at how App-V works and discover how you can deploy it in your organization. Anthony Kinney

Virtualization: Achieving High Availability for Hyper-V

Consolidating servers onto fewer physical machines has many advantages, but it is extremely important that you plan for your systems to be highly available. Here�s a guide to using Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering to bring high availability to your Hyper-V virtual machines. Steven Ekren

Virtualization: Backup and Disaster Recovery for Server Virtualization

Virtualization brings significant changes to disaster recovery. Here�s an introduction to how the Microsoft virtualization platform factors into your disaster recovery plan, as well as a deeper look into backup and restore options and considerations for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. Adam Fazio

Virtualization: Essential Tools for Planning Your Virtual Infrastructure

Is your infrastructure ready for virtualization? The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit, a network-wide infrastructure assessment tool, can help you better understand your IT infrastructure and determine whether your systems are ready for upgrade or migration to a variety of technologies, including virtualization. Jay Sauls and Baldwin Ng

From the Editor: It�s a Virtual(ized) World