AppV - Should I?

[garethEds]

Hi Guys,

 

I've been reading a lot about AppV this past couple of days and it all looks good in theory - but does it work and is it something I should be looking at to ease deployment of applications across my network?

 

What do I need to do? If anyone fancies a discussion with me via email then please send me a PM so I can leech information,

 

Gareth

[AngryTechnician]

I've been using App-V for about a year now to deploy the more tricky applications I deal with, generally with good results. I know I've heard of some schools that have gone the whole hog and deploy almost everything that way; personally I prefer a mixture of App-V with more traditional deployments, and some applications do pose unique problems for it (most recently, I found that Windows Live Essentials had a couple of problems as you may well have seen on my blog). Generally, anything I can easily deploy directly to the client, I do that way. Anything that causes problems, I turn to App-V.

 

Although Microsoft's official stance is that it is not a tool for solving application compatibility problems, many such problems can be resolved this way, especially if they are permissions-based.

 

It's also very useful for making software for which you have concurrent licensing arrangements available to more workstations than the number of concurrent users allowed for, since it keeps track of concurrent usage and will automatically block anyone from exceeding the licence limit.

 

I'm happy to answer any questions you have about it here, otherwise PM me and I'll shoot you my email address.

[john]

Have you got any good links / references for getting going with App-V other than Google in general?

[AngryTechnician]

Microsoft App-V whitepaper collection is here: Microsoft Application Virtualization Documentation

 

The first article there, the Microsoft Application Virtualization Version 4.6 Trial Guide, is extremely useful as it basically walks through the entire server setup in its basic configuration, with screenshots, in pretty easy steps. Follow it and at the end you will have a working server you can then tinker with and secure at your leisure. I have frequently said that I wish Microsoft would produce the same thing for System Center products as the documentation for most of them is like banging your head against a brick wall.

[john]

Cheers will give it a read over when I get 10 minutes as its something I've been thinking more about