Introduction:

Application coexistence continues to be a significant issue for business customers.
The task of managing the portfolio of applications in a company is a very complex process, and few tools are available to assist in this process. Some of the challenges that occur when managing applications include accommodating multiple versions of the same application as well as updating application packages.  

Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) enables organizations to respond to the challenge by providing the capability to make applications available to end-user computers without having to install the applications directly on those computers.  

The purpose of this guide is to present a clear and concise workflow of the decisions and tasks required to implement App-V. This guide, when used in conjunction with product documentation, will enable companies to confidently plan their App-V infrastructures.
The Appendix includes a sample job aid for recording the decisions made during the design process.  

As a mentioned in my precedent post about MED-V you can download all guides from Microsoft site, but in this case I would to focus attention on virtualization technologies, in particular in this post in APP-V 4.6 that now support 64 Bit environment and application.

Virtualization Technoligies today have really changed approach in IT planning and Design and operation maintaining.  

NB: This guide will not cover the mechanics (such as step-by-step directions) of delivering virtualized application packages to desktops.

At the first I would present a document that highlight in MED-V (Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization^®) Design and Planning.

This guide is one in a series of planning and design guides that clarify and streamline the planning and design process for Microsoft infrastructure technologies.

From Microsoft site it's possible to download all this guides but, in this case, I would to begin with Virtualization Technology and in particular MED-V that in these days was released a new version with MDOP 2010.

You can download only document HERE...

Thanks Microsoft!

There are some interesting documents and guides from Microsoft® with regard the new technologies market and the new technologies that are available from Microsoft. They are downloadable from Microsoft site; also I would to dedicate a few words from Virtualization Technologies.  

Each guide in the series addresses a unique infrastructure technology or scenario.     

These guides include the following topics:      

·         Defining the technical decision flow (flow chart) through the planning process.     

·         Describing the decisions to be made and the commonly available options to consider in making the decisions

·         Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics

·         Framing the decision in terms of additional questions to the business to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the appropriate business landscape.

The guides in these series are intended to complement and augment the product documentation. 

I would to highlight the Virtualization Technologies in particular, because there are the very interesting methodologies and technique that can help IT PRO and IT Manager to do better their plan.     

There are several different forms of virtualization that need to be understood as a basis for making the right technology choice:      

·         Server hardware virtualization. Also known as a hypervisor, server hardware virtualization runs a very lightweight core operating system. The hypervisor can host independent virtual machines (VMs). This form of virtualization requires hardware that has embedded virtualization awareness capabilities. Since the hypervisor is very lightweight, there is little overhead in the system, which allows for more scalability in the VMs. 

·         Server software virtualization. An operating system, such as Windows Server® 2003 or Windows Server 2008 R2, runs an application that is able to host VMs. Each VM runs a completely separate operating system and application set. 

·         Session virtualization. Centralized systems host multiple user workloads, and all processing is done on those host systems. Only the presentation information (such as keyboard and mouse inputs and video updates) is sent between the client and the host systems. The client can be a full Windows-based workstation or a Windows-based terminal device. 

·          Application virtualization. An application is isolated from the underlying operating system by means of wrapper software that encapsulates it. This allows multiple applications that may have conflicting dynamic link libraries (DLLs) or other incompatibilities to run on the same machine without affecting each other. 

·         Virtualization on the desktop. This is similar to server software virtualization, but it runs on client systems such as Windows® 7 and Windows Vista®. The client operating system runs a virtualization application that hosts VMs. This is often used when a specific person needs to run one or a limited number of legacy applications on a legacy operating system.

On VMWare ESX3x, your VM has one or more VMDK files (*.vmdk) and one or more flat vmdk files (last characters are *.flat.vmdk )

In some cases, you may corrupt, lose or accidentally delete your VMDK files. Your VMDK’s contain metadata for your flat.vmdk files. Without your VMDK’s, you cannot load your flat.vmdk-files. Consequence: you cannot load the VM in your VirtualCenter and you cannot start the VM.

The following steps will guide you to recreate your vmdk files (.vmdk):

1.       Determine the hard disk sizes of your original VM (I call this VM from now on: VM A)

2.       Create a new VM (I call this VM from now on: VM B) with VirtualCenter with the same number of hard disks as your old VM, and the exact same sizes. So: if your original VM contained 2 harddisks from 8,00GB and 12,00GB, recreate these harddisks exactly the same in your new VM.

3.       After your VM B has been created, use Putty (or a similar tool) to navigate to your ESX server. Then navigate to the location / directory where your VM B is stored.

4.       Copy all VMDK’s (not the flat ones, but only the metadata files) to your VM A directory. The filesize of your META-data files should be a few KB.

5.       Navigate to your VM A directory. You just copied the *.VMDK files to this directory. Edit the VMDK’s with a text editor: You should replace the old filenames with the correct file names -> They refer to the new VM B, but they should refer to your old (original) VM A

6.       Save the files.

7.       Load the VM in your VirtualCenter. You should now be able to add th flat.vmdk to your VM.

Many thanks to http://www.itexperience.net/ for this nice post

In these days  was the release of the 2010 of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) Edition.

Application Virtualization (APP-V) 4.6

One of the most important components of this edition is version 4.6 for Microsoft Application Virtualization (APP-V) now also supports 64-bit systems and which was available in beta since last August.

This 64-bit version was much waiting, in particular because support for 64-bit architectures allows:

the sequencing of 64-bit native applications and their run virtualized on 64-bit systems; the sequencing of 32-bit applications and their virtualized execution is on 32-bit on 64-bit; applications virtualized with APP-V in remote Desktop Services Windows Server environment using 2008 R2 (only on 64-bit) and Terminal Server in Windows Server 2008 (in the 64-bit Edition).

There is more information about this on Blog of MDOP Microsoft Team, it’s important to read this post because there is an interesting information about MED-V SP1 RC….

http://blogs.technet.com/mdop/archive/2010/02/19/app-v-4-6-and-med-v-1-0-sp1-rc-are-here.aspx

Hi all,

in the left pane there is an important information about Microsoft Enterprise Support with regards of Microsoft OS.

Read all from Microsoft site

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/windows-7/end-of-support.aspx

As Microsoft has announced in 2008, support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) will end on July 13, 2010. Support for Windows 2000 will end on the same date. Support for Windows Vista Release to Manufacturing (RTM) will end on April 13, 2010.

Customers running an unsupported version of Windows or service pack will not be eligible for any of our support options. Updates, including security updates released with bulletins from the Microsoft Security Response Center, will be reviewed and built for the supported versions and service packs only. The most current service packs are available to organizations, and they are easily deployed via Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services/Microsoft System Center, and the Microsoft Download Center. To better understand the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy and your support options visit the Microsoft Support Lifecycle page

The organization that develops and promotes Internet standards have approved a change to the TLS protocol, to fix a dangerous security issue emerged last year
 - The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has approved the final draft of an amendment to the Transport Layer Security (TLS), a protocol used to protect the majority of online transactions, which should solve a serious security problem. This problem came to light several months ago, but was made public only last November.

Read more here…

Hy all,

there is a news from connect...

Microsoft® Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) enables deployment and management of Microsoft Virtual PC to address key enterprise scenarios, primarily resolving application compatibility with a new version of Windows.

Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) removes the barriers to Windows upgrades by resolving application incompatibility with Windows Vista or Windows 7.  MED-V delivers applications in a Virtual PC that runs a previous version of the operating system (for example, Windows XP).  And it does so in a way that is completely seamless and transparent to the user. Applications appear and operate as if they were installed on the desktop, so that users can even pin them to the task bar.  For IT administrators, MED-V helps deploy, provision, control, and support the virtual environments.

Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization is an integral tool in the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, a dynamic solution available to Software Assurance customers that helps reduce application deployment costs, enable delivery of applications as services, and better manage and control enterprise desktop environments. 

MED-V 1.0 SP1 will add host support for Windows 7 (32bit and 64bit) and will be released in the first quarter of calendar year 2010.
Similarly to MED-V 1.0, MED-V 1.0 SP1 will leverage Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 to provide an enterprise solution for Application compatibility, and enabling the deployment of Virtual PCs across the enterprise.

cheers

Alex

cheers

Alex

During TechEd EMEA 2009 in Berlin, Microsoft has released Exchange 2010, a major upgrade to its suite known for messaging and collaboration that makes a great step towards the model software-plus-Services.

Exchange 2010 provides business users the tools necessary not only to create solutions on premise, namely, those that run directly on the servers of the company, but for creating web services and cloud-based. The new Exchange also promises to simplify the migration from one type of solution to another, allowing companies to quickly jump to solutions "on premise" solutions "in the cloud and vice versa.

Unlike the model software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model embraced by competitors like Google and Salesforce.com, where it is expected that all services in the cloud and then they turn to the Web, the S + S Microsoft adopts a hybrid approach Here the computing environment does not lie entirely on the Web.
According to Microsoft, the S + S provides greater flexibility than is SaaS, it allows you to choose where to run applications on the server side - in the cloud or on local systems - and what technology to use for construction and service delivery.

Microsoft is rolling out the concept behind the S + S in its forthcoming cloud computing platform, Windows Azure, which will integrate closely with Exchange 2010.

The latter also introduces new features for archiving, clustering at the database level and full integration with Outlook 2010, a client that promises to further simplify the management of corporate email.

Exchange 2010 is only available in 64-bit version, a choice that Microsoft is applying to all its enterprise-class software, and runs on Windows Server 2008 SP2 or R2.

At the Microsoft TechEd in Berlin has also announced the acquisition of technology Teamprise of SourceGear, which allows developers to use the popular open source Eclipse IDE to create applications with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server.

 Read from Technet for more information

Hi all,

now is available A new KB article is available: KB976338, there are a great news about this update.... please read all article by Softgrid Blog on Microsoft blog site

http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/archive/2009/11/10/a-new-kb-article-is-available-kb976338-description-of-microsoft-application-virtualization-4-5-service-pack-1.aspx

cheers

Alex 

The Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) documentation library has recently been published to TechNet! This is the first time that MED-V documentation has been made available online and you can now see the newly published MED-V Planning, Deployment, and Operations Guide in the MED-V documentation library on TechNet here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee348978.aspx.

Unfortunately with released of MDOP 2009 R2 there is not MED-V version tha is compatible with Windows 7, but for this wi'll wait a 1 Q of 2010.

:)

I have done copy and paste but I think that is not possible to lose this post for the content... read and think!

Backup, convert, flexibility and so on wow....

The Windows Sysinternals team as brought out a new utility, called Disk2vhd that creates VHD (Virtual Hard Disk - Microsoft’s Virtual Machine disk format) versions of physical disks for use in Microsoft Virtual PC or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines. The cool thing about Disk2vhd is that you can run Disk2vhd on a system that’s online. Disk2vhd uses Windows’ Volume Snapshot capability, introduced in Windows XP, to create consistent point-in-time snapshots of the volumes you want to include in a conversion. You can even have Disk2vhd create the VHDs on local volumes, even ones being converted (though performance is better when the VHD is on a disk different than ones being converted).

Go to http://www.sysinternals.com and try it

cheers

Alex

It 'was released yesterday and is already available for download, the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2009 R2.

The version of MDOP 2009 was released the first of April 2009, and the issue in these days of R2 is linked to the updating of various instruments that make MDOP better support for deployment of Windows 7.  

App-V 4.5 SP1 to deploy virtualized applications on Windows 7 (32-bit), while version 4.6 will allow the deployment of virtualized applications also hosted a 64-bit. Currently the version 4.6 of App-V is in beta and the release of the final version is expected by the first half of 2010.

As for Med-V 1.0 SP1, the version of Med-V will support Windows 7, the beta is expected later this year and the full release in the first quarter of 2010.

You can deepen the operation of the components of MDOP also from the post of technet team at link below:

http://blogs.technet.com/mdop

cheers

Alex 

The team of Windows 7 have announced that RTM version of Windows XP mode, which will use the new version of Windows Virtual PC and will allow users with Windows 7 to run a virtual machine with Windows XP usable to solve any problems. RTM of Windows XP Mode will be available at 22th October.

This is a great news for all users of Windows 7 that want to use legacy application on Windows XP.

Read more at Windows Blog HERE...

Dear all,

I would report a great new the you can read on left widget on my Blog...

The Microsoft Exchange Team has just announced that Exchange 2010 is now code complete and released to manufacturing. This means that Exchange 2010 is on schedule for general availability in early November. For more on this milestone announcement, see...(read more)

Hi all,

this is a great question, how can I use an .ocx file on my Windows x64 platform if this .ocx file is not compatible with Windows for 64 bit?

It seems incredible but works!

This problem can be solved with APP-V

At the first step you need to sequence with APP-V Sequencer 4.5 this .ocx (only this component because I remember that Internet Explorer is not virtualizable)

At second step you need to ran this Virtual APP from APP-V client 4.6 (RTM will be available within the end of October) and if you use Internet Explorer 8 from Windows 7 (x64) in compatibility mode, you can see that all it's operational.

This solution obviously is not supported from Microsoft but is usefull to sove little problem about 32 vs 64 bit!

cheers

Alex