Microsoft Application Virtualization Cookbook

Over 55 hands-on recipes covering the key aspects of a successful App-V deployment About This Book Deploy a resilient App-V infrastructure Combine App-V with Remote Desktop Services, Citrix XenDesktop, and System Center Configuration Manager Discover Shared Content Store Mode, Scripting, and Connection Groups to extend your deployment Who This Book Is For If you have some experience with App-V but are overwhelmed by the range of features on offer, then this book is for you. A basic understanding of App-V and common Windows Server technologies (Active Directory/Group Policy/PowerShell) is necessary. What You Will Learn Deploy a full App-V infrastructure Deploy App-V clients and prerequisites Leverage connection groups to combine App-V packages Reduce hardware requirements for your Remote Desktop Session Hosts Extend the use of your investments in Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager Discover which applications your users are running Resolve issues with your deployment quickly Customize App-V packages to your needs Scale out your App-V infrastructure to accommodate increasing requirements In Detail With an ever-increasing number of applications being deployed in the workplace, Microsoft App-V 5 enables administrators to abstract these applications from clients, in turn reducing the time taken to complete the software deployment lifecycle. Part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, App-V 5 centralizes the management of applications with a variety of deployment methods to suit each environment. With this hands-on Cookbook, you will learn how best to utilize features of App-V that you may already be familiar with, as well as gain insights into features only recently introduced such as the enhanced Connection Groups and Shared Content Store Mode. The book starts with the deployment of a scalable App-V infrastructure and progresses to cover the sequencing of common applications, as well as how you can take advantage of the new Office 2013 and Office 365 deployment methods. In later chapters, you will discover integrations with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services, Citrix XenDesktop, and Microsoft System Centre Configuration Manager. Finally, you will learn to leverage the App-V reporting server, Microsoft Excel, and pivot tables to gain insights into which applications are being used, along with how to troubleshoot issues with your deployment. Style and approach A practical Cookbook full of task-based recipes, complete with screenshots and explanations to supplement.

Over 55 hands-on recipes covering the key aspects of a successful App-V deploymentAbout This Book• Deploy a resilient App-V infrastructure• Combine App-V with Remote Desktop Services, Citrix XenDesktop, and System Center Configuration Manager• Discover Shared Content Store Mode, Scripting, and Connection Groups to extend your deploymentIn DetailWith an ever-increasing number of applications being deployed in the workplace, Microsoft App-V 5 enables administrators to abstract these applications from clients, in turn reducing the time taken to complete the software deployment lifecycle. Part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, App-V 5 centralizes the management of applications with a variety of deployment methods to suit each environment.With this hands-on Cookbook, you will learn how best to utilize features of App-V that you may already be familiar with, as well as gain insights into features only recently introduced such as the enhanced Connection Groups and Shared Content Store Mode.The book starts with the deployment of a scalable App-V infrastructure and progresses to cover the sequencing of common applications, as well as how you can take advantage of the new Office 2013 and Office 365 deployment methods.In later chapters, you will discover integrations with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services, Citrix XenDesktop, and Microsoft System Centre Configuration Manager.Finally, you will learn to leverage the App-V reporting server, Microsoft Excel, and pivot tables to gain insights into which applications are being used, along with how to troubleshoot issues with your deployment.What You Will Learn• Deploy a full App-V infrastructure• Deploy App-V clients and prerequisites• Leverage connection groups to combine App-V packages• Reduce hardware requirements for your Remote Desktop Session Hosts• Extend the use of your investments in Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager• Discover which applications your users are running• Resolve issues with your deployment quickly• Customize App-V packages to your needs• Scale out your App-V infrastructure to accommodate increasing requirementsWho This Book Is ForIf you have some experience with App-V but are overwhelmed by the range of features on offer, then this book is for you. A basic understanding of App-V and common Windows Server technologies (Active Directory/Group Policy/PowerShell) is necessary.Style and approachA practical Cookbook full of task-based recipes, complete with screenshots and explanations to supplement.

A practical tutorial containing clear, step-by-step explanations of all the concepts required to understand the technology involved in virtualizing your application infrastructure. Each chapter uses real-world scenarios so that the readers can put into practice what they learn immediately and with the right guidance. Each topic is written defining a common need and developing the process to solve it using Microsoft App-V. This book is for system administrators or consultants who want to master and dominate App-V, and gain a deeper understanding of the technology in order to optimize App V implementations. Even though the book does not include basic steps like installing App-V components or sequencing simple applications; application virtualization beginners will receive a comprehensive look into App-V before jumping into the technical process of each chapter.

Microsoft Virtualization: Master Microsoft Server, Desktop, Application, and Presentation Virtualization serves a thorough reference for those considering a migration into the virtualized world. It provides the tools and explanations needed to create a fresh virtualization environment. Readers walk through step-by-step instructions on everything from building a Windows 2008 server to installing and configuring Hyper-V and App-V. The book begins with the basics of virtualization, including the role of virtualization in the changing landscape of the traditional data center and its benefits, and the strategies of virtualization. It presents the step-by-step process used to build a Windows 2008 server and the process of configuring and managing a Hyper-V infrastructure. Microsoft's approach to high availability and the combination of Microsoft tools to provide a very reliable and highly available virtualization infrastructure are discussed. The chapters also cover the migration of physical servers to virtual servers; the Dynamic Data Center concept; creating and publishing a virtual application within App-V; and desktop virtualization. This book was intended for seasoned system administrators and engineers who grew up in and still manage primarily a hardware-based server environment containing a large assortment of both newer and legacy applications. Covers Microsoft virtualization products completely, including Hyper-V Includes a special section on securing virtual infrastructure Gives hands-on instructions to help understand and implement Microsoft solutions

In this book, two Microsoft MVPs show you how to choose, understand, deploy, and manage Microsoft's virtualization technologies. The book explains how to consolidate physical server resources with Hyper-V, solve distributed application problems with Microsoft Application Virtualization, support secure and standard corporate PC images with Microsoft Virtual PC, and move to a green datacenter.Microsoft Virtualization provides in-depth, hands-on coverage of the new features of Windows virtualization technologies, and teaches you how to implement different types of virtualization technologies into a network. The book shows when and where virtualization can be used to consolidate servers, desktops and applications.

This is a Packt Cookbook, full with over 75 recipes for VMM users to carry out vital tasks quickly and easily.This book is written for solutions architects, technical consultants, administrators, and any other virtualization lover who needs to use Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager in a real world environment.

If you are a virtualization architect, engineer, or administrator who wants to leverage Hyper-V to create virtual networks (virtual data centers), this is the book for you. Prior knowledge of Hyper-V or a similar solution and a good understanding of the end goals of creating a virtual network is required.

Virtualize mission-critical Microsoft applications How do you safely deploy Tier 1 apps in virtual environments? In this in-depth guide, VMware insiders Charles A. Windom, Hemant Gaidhani, and Alex Fontana show you how. Focusing on Microsoft applications, they guide you step by step through a Proof of Concept for virtualizing Windows Server, Active Directory, Internet Information Services, Exchange Server, SQL Server, SharePoint Server, and Remote Desktop Services—all on the VMware vSphere 4 platform. You'll find out what to consider for each application before you virtualize it, and learn how to perform VM backup using VMware Data Recovery, Windows patch management using VMware Update Manager, application performance monitoring using VMware Appspeed, and more. Topics include: A Thorough Overview of VMware vSphere 4 Infrastructure Services Application Services Management Services (part of VMware vCenter Server) Virtualizing Windows Server 2008 Choose virtual hardware and learn how to add sufficient CPU and memory Run Microsoft Windows Server 2008 as a guest inside the vSphere environment Protect your applications and data and deliver high availability using Failover Clustering and Windows Network Load Balancing Virtualizing Other Microsoft Applications Active Directory Internet Information Services 7.0 Exchange Server 2007 and 2010 SQL Server 2005 and 2008 SharePoint Server 2007 Remote Desktop Services 2008 R2