Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization
Instead of creating a
separate partitioned space for the entire operating system, Microsoft
SoftGrid Application Virtualization (SoftGrid) creates a separate
partitioned space for a specific application when it is run on a
SoftGrid client. This allows applications that would otherwise be
incompatible with each other to execute concurrently. For example, if it
was necessary in your organization to run two versions of an
application on the same Windows Vista computer at the same time, you
could use SoftGrid to ensure that there were no conflicts between them.
Similarly, if it was
necessary in your environment to deploy two versions of the same
application using RemoteApp,
you would need to use two separate terminal servers and hope that the
users in your organization remembered which terminal server to connect
to when they needed to run a specific version of the application. This
is because, generally speaking, if you install two versions of the same
application on the same terminal server, you will run into configuration
problems and conflicts. Applications deployed through SoftGrid can
share data with locally installed applications, although they cannot
perform complex interactions beyond file associations, cut-and-paste,
and OLE integration. If your organization uses applications that require
more complex integration, it will be necessary to use SoftGrid to
deploy applications within a sequenced group called a suite. In a suite
configuration, a group of applications runs within the same silo. Silos
are discussed later in this lesson.
Applications deployed
through SoftGrid can be executed on client computers that have the
Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization for Desktop agent
installed. The agent functions like VM software, although instead of
locally hosting a virtualized operating system, it hosts a virtualized
application that is streamed from a computer that has Microsoft System
Center Virtual Application Server installed. It is also possible to
install Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization for Terminal
Services, which allows you to deploy multiple versions of the same
application, or applications, that conflict from a single terminal
server or terminal server farm. These applications are streamed to the
terminal server from the computer with Microsoft System Center Virtual
Application Server installed, as shown in Figure 1.
A big advantage of SoftGrid is that it allows applications that cannot
normally be deployed through Terminal Services to be deployed in this
manner.
You should deploy Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization in your environment when you need to do the following:
Run multiple
versions of the same application on a local client as the silos,
ensuring that the differing versions of the applications will not
conflict. This is especially useful in application development
environments where different versions of the same application need to be
tested simultaneously.
Deploy applications that would normally conflict to the same client.
Deploy multiple versions of the same application from the same terminal server.
Deploy
applications that are not compatible with Terminal Services from
terminal servers. When Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization for
Terminal Services is installed on a terminal server, you can deploy
applications that are incompatible with Terminal Services.
Exert
greater control over which users can execute specific applications.
Each time a user attempts to execute an application, SoftGrid will query
Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) to verify that the user has
been authorized to use that application. Audit-based license tracking
and strict license enforcement are built into SoftGrid and can be
configured to ensure that your organization remains compliant with its
application licensing responsibilities.
Planning the Deployment of Application Virtualization
Planning the
deployment of SoftGrid for an organization requires understanding the
available components and how they interact with one another. A Microsoft
Application Virtualization deployment has the following components:
SoftGrid Sequencer
The sequencer is used to package an existing application so it can be
deployed through SoftGrid. This component can be installed on the
Virtual Application server or deployed separately. Generally it is
necessary to have only a single sequencer because this component is used
only when preparing applications for their deployment to the Microsoft
System Center Virtual Application server.
Microsoft System Center Virtual Application Server
This server maintains application packages and streams parts of the
application to the client using Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) as
needed. After parts of the application are transmitted to the client,
the components are cached and do not need to be retransmitted when the
application is used again. This server also handles authentication and
licensing. High availability should be achieved by load balancing
identical Microsoft System Center Virtual Application servers. This
server must be a member of an AD DS forest.
SoftGrid Data Store
This component maintains application information in a SQL Server
database. It is possible to use SQL Server 2005 Express to support the
SoftGrid data store, although enterprise organizations will want to use
SQL Server 2005 or 2008 to store this data. This component can be
located on the same server as the Virtual Application Server component
or located on another computer.
SoftGrid Management console
This component manages the SoftGrid infrastructure. Like other
consoles, it can be used to remotely manage SoftGrid from an
administrator’s workstation or used directly when logged on to the
System Center Virtual Application server.
SoftGrid Client for Desktops
Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization for Desktops client can
be installed on Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP
Professional, and Windows Vista. This software is necessary if the
client computer is going to execute a
SoftGrid application directly. This client software can be deployed to
client operating systems using traditional application deployment
methods. Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization for Terminal
Services can be installed on Windows 2000 Server/Advanced Server,
Windows Server 2003 with Terminal Services installed, or Windows Server
2008 with the Terminal Services role installed. When client computers
access SoftGrid applications using a terminal server, they need only RDP
client software. It is not necessary to install the SoftGrid desktop
client in this situation.
SoftGrid Branch Office Deployments
When planning the
deployment of SoftGrid in branch office environments, you should ensure
that each branch office has its own Virtual Application server. This is
primarily because WAN links are too slow to support the streaming of
application data to client computers. In some cases, there will be
enough bandwidth from a central location to a branch office to support a
Terminal Services session, and using the SoftGrid Terminal Services
component on a local terminal server might be the best application
deployment solution. Alternatively, if there are only a few clients, you
might configure them to access terminal servers across the Internet by
connecting to a TS Gateway server located on the screened subnet at your
organization’s datacenter site.
In most
branch office deployment scenarios, SQL Server Express should be
deployed on the computer hosting the Virtual Application Server role
unless an existing SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008 instance is also
present in the branch office environment.
SoftGrid is not currently
able to distribute packages intelligently across WAN links. Plans for
the rollout of newly sequenced to branch office Virtual Application
servers should leverage existing Windows Server 2008 replication tools
like DFS. Once they are replicated out to the branch offices, the
SoftGrid administrator can configure the local Virtual Application
servers with the new SoftGrid packages.
Practice: Planning Application Virtualization
You are being retained
as a consultant for the development of an application virtualization
strategy for Contoso, Ltd. Contoso is a large corporation with offices
located throughout Australia. As an enterprise administrator, it is your
role to design an operating system virtualization strategy. Contoso’s
head office is in Melbourne and has 15,000 employees. Contoso has remote
offices in Sydney, Adelaide, and Brisbane, each with approximately
5,000 employees. Each remote office is connected to the head office
through a leased line WAN.
Approximately 75
percent of the client computers at Contoso have Windows XP Professional
SP3 installed. The rest of the client computers at Contoso have Windows
Vista Enterprise with SP1 installed. All servers at Contoso have been
upgraded to Windows Server 2008.
Contoso is
dependent on four line-of-business applications. After these
applications were recently patched to deal with several important
security issues, it was found that when two or more of these
applications run concurrently on a Windows XP or Windows Vista computer,
a conflict occurs that causes the computer to experience a STOP error.
After further testing of these applications, you have found that two of
these applications cannot be installed on a Windows Server 2008 computer
with the Terminal Services role deployed. The other two applications
can be installed on a terminal server, but the server will encounter a
STOP error if any single user executes these applications concurrently.
Almost all users in the
Contoso environment will need access to two or more of these
applications to perform their daily tasks, and the company’s compliance
auditors consider rolling back to the unpatched versions of the
applications unacceptable. At present, users have been instructed to
execute only one application at a time, but there is a growing need to
be able to run them concurrently and to cut and paste data between these
programs.
Additionally, several
groups of users in the organization telecommute. Management wants these
users to be able to access these applications while telecommuting, but
it will be necessary to ensure that these users’ computer updates and
antivirus and spyware definitions are up-to-date before they are granted
access to the organizational network. Management would prefer any
proposed solution to work without deploying a virtual private network
(VPN) or dial-up–based remote access solution.
Finally, any solution that
you plan to deploy at Contoso should be fault-tolerant and should be
able to survive the loss of a single server.
▸ Exercise Planning a Virtualized Application Deployment
In this exercise, you
will review the business and technical requirements to plan a
virtualized application deployment for Contoso, Ltd.
| 1. | What
aspects of Contoso’s operation strongly indicate a necessity to use an
application deployment strategy that leverages Microsoft SoftGrid
Application Virtualization over other application deployment
alternatives?
Several
line-of-business applications conflict and cause STOP errors when they
are run concurrently on a terminal server or on a client computer. Several applications cannot be installed on a terminal server using the standard application deployment method. Using
Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization allows these applications
to be installed and execute concurrently on a Windows Server 2008
computer with the Terminal Services role installed without conflicts
arising due to the virtualized nature of the execution environment.
|
| 2. | What
plans should you make to ensure that Contoso staff at the head and
branch offices are able to access important line-of-business
applications if a server and WAN links fail completely during a peak
business period?
|
| 3. | What plans should you make to allow for the Contoso managers who are telecommuting?
Plan the
installation of a TS Gateway server on the screened subnet at Contoso
HQ. Instruct telecommuting managers to connect to this server over the
Internet. Plan
the configuration of a TS Gateway server NAP policy to ensure that
connecting computers’ System Health Validators (SHVs) report on the
compliance level of software updates and antivirus and anti-spyware
definitions. Configure the TS Gateway server to allow access to only the
terminal servers at the HQ site.
|
