ms softgrid app virtulization 4.2 & 4.1 sp1 guide

Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization Trial Guide

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IMPORTANT NOTICE .............................................................................................................................................. 2

INTRODUCTION TO THE TRIAL GUIDE .................................................................................................................... 4

TRIAL SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS .............................................................................................................................. 6

INSTALLING SYSTEM CENTER VIRTUAL APPLICATION SERVER ................................................................................ 8

INSTALLING SOFTGRID CLIENT FOR WINDOWS DESKTOPS ................................................................................... 15

TESTING THE DEFAULT APPLICATION ................................................................................................................... 16

SOFTGRID CLIENT FOR TERMINAL SERVERS ......................................................................................................... 20

INSTALLING SOFTGRID SEQUENCER ..................................................................................................................... 21

SEQUENCER FILES ................................................................................................................................................ 23

SEQUENCING ADOBE ACROBAT READER.............................................................................................................. 24

SEQUENCING A SUN PLUG-IN FOR INTERNET EXPLORER ...................................................................................... 31

TROUBLESHOOTING............................................................................................................................................. 35

ACCESSING THE MICROSOFT SUPPORT KNOWLEDGE BASE .................................................................................. 36

CONTACTING MICROSOFT TRAINING ................................................................................................................... 36


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Introduction to the Trial Guide

This Trial Guide is designed to help you quickly set up and evaluate a Microsoft® SoftGrid® Application

Virtualization environment. This guide outlines steps necessary to install System Center Virtual

Application Server components, install SoftGrid Client for Windows Desktops and Terminal Servers,

publish the shortcuts of sequenced applications, and then stream and run these virtual applications on

SoftGrid clients. You will also be able to virtualize a select set of applications using SoftGrid Sequencer.

To help this process flow as smoothly as possible we recommend that you read this guide before

installing the SoftGrid platform.

Obtaining Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization

For Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization for Desktops, please download the Microsoft Desktop

Optimization Pack for Software Assurance 2007. For Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization for

Terminal Services, please download Microsoft SoftGrid 4.1 SP 1. Both are available at Microsoft Volume

Licensing and are also currently available on MSDN. MDOP 2007 can be downloaded from MSDN under

the Servers branch (Desktop Optimization Pack 2007). Microsoft SoftGrid for Terminal Services can also

be downloaded from MSDN by searching the site for Microsoft SoftGrid 4.1 SP1.

Audience for This Guide

This guide was written for Microsoft® Windows® system administrators. As an information technology (IT)

professional, you should have sufficient knowledge and experience to accomplish the following tasks:

Set up operating systems and computers.

Add computers to domains.

Set up and work comfortably with Active Directory® directory service and Microsoft DNS.

Hardware and software requirements are documented in the section "Trial System Requirements" on

page 7 of this guide.

Overview of the SoftGrid Application Virtualization Platform

The SoftGrid platform lets you deploy, update, and support applications as services in real time, on an as-

needed basis. When you use the SoftGrid platform, you transform individual applications from locally

installed products into centrally managed services. Applications become available everywhere they need

to be—no computer preconfiguration or changes to operating system settings are required.

System Center Virtual Application Server

System Center Virtual Application Server delivers SoftGrid-enabled applications on-demand to SoftGrid

Client. One or more SoftGrid Virtual Applications servers can share a single SoftGrid SQL data store. The

System Center Virtual Application Server authorizes and authenticates requests and provides the

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security, metering, monitoring, and data gathering that you need. The server uses Active Directory and

supporting tools to manage users and applications.

SoftGrid Management System

The SoftGrid Management System includes SoftGrid Management Console and SoftGrid Management

Web Service. Administrators use SoftGrid Management Console (a Microsoft Management Console, or

MMC, snap-in) to configure System Center Virtual Application Servers. Using SoftGrid Management

Console, administrators can add and remove applications, change File Type Associations (FTAs), and

assign access permissions and licenses to users and groups. SoftGrid Management Web Service is the

communication conduit between SoftGrid Management Console and the SoftGrid SQL data store.

SoftGrid Client

SoftGrid Client automatically sets up and manages virtual environments for SoftGrid-enabled

applications, publishes the applications to the user's desktop, and manages connections to System

Center Virtual Application Server. SoftGrid Client stores user-specific virtual application settings in each

user's profile—for example, registry and file changes.

SoftGrid Sequencer

SoftGrid Sequencer is a wizard-based tool administrators use to create SoftGrid-enabled applications.

The sequencer produces the application ―package,‖ which consists of several files. These files include a

SoftGrid-enabled application (.sft) file, one or more Open Software Description (.osd) "link" files, one or

more icon (.ico) files, and a SoftGrid project (.sprj) file. The .sft, .osd, and .ico files are stored on System

Center Virtual Application Servers; these files are the keys that SoftGrid Client uses to access and run

SoftGrid-enabled applications.


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Trial System Requirements

For this evaluation, one computer will run Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), the SoftGrid

Management Web Service, the SoftGrid Management Console, and System Center Virtual Application

Server. A second computer will run SoftGrid Client for Windows Desktops. You will need to set up a third

computer as a Windows domain controller with Windows DNS. You will need two additional computers for

testing SoftGrid Sequencer and SoftGrid Client for Terminal Servers. All of the computers must be

members of the common domain (Figure 1). Note that you can use virtual machines on a single physical

computer that meets the system requirements of this trial.

Figure 1. SoftGrid trial in an isolated network

In this trial, we assume that you set up SoftGrid in a test lab, completely separate from your production

network. The purpose of this evaluation is for you to acquire basic experience with the SoftGrid platform.

You can address any questions relating to integration into your production environment, such as security

concerns and enterprise-level design, later. Also, only basic platform functionality will be covered in this

guide, to simplify and focus on proof of concept. The SoftGrid platform is covered in its entirety by

Microsoft Training courses.

The following sections list the basic software and hardware requirements for this trial evaluation.

System Center Virtual Application Server

Hardware

Intel Pentium III 1 GHz or later CPU

512 MB or more RAM

10 GB or more available hard disk space


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Software

Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server/Windows Advanced Server with Service Pack 4 (SP4) or later, or

Windows Server® 2003 with SP1 or later

Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.7 or later

Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0 or later

Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0

Note The computer host name of this server should not begin with a number.

SoftGrid Client for Window Desktops

Hardware

Intel Pentium III 700 MHz or later CPU

128 MB or more RAM

4 GB or more available hard disk space (includes space for cache)

Software

Microsoft Windows 2000®; Windows® XP Pro; or Windows Vista® Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate

(version 4.2 only) editions

Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 6 or later installed on the operating system

SoftGrid Sequencer Hardware & Software

The hardware and software requirements for SoftGrid Sequencer are identical to those of SoftGrid Client

for Windows Desktops except that a real partition or Q drive needs to be available on the sequencer

computer.

Windows Domain Controller

Hardware

Meet or exceed the recommended Microsoft hardware requirements.

Software

Microsoft operating system providing a Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 domain with

Microsoft DNS setup

Although SoftGrid supports Microsoft Windows NT® Server 4.0 domains, Windows NT Server hardware

and software requirements, and related installation instructions are not included in this guide.


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Installing System Center Virtual Application Server

The section guides you through the step-by-step process of installing System Center Virtual Application

Server.

Before You Begin

The following items must be present on the server computer before installing System Center Virtual

Application Server:

Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server with SP4 or later, or Windows Server 2003 with SP1 or later

IIS 5.0 or later (must be installed prior to installing MDAC and Microsoft® .NET Framework)

MDAC 2.7 or later


Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or later

Specified Active Directory objects


SoftGrid requires that MMC 3.0 be installed on the computer from which SoftGrid Management Console

will be executed. You can download MMC 3.0 from Microsoft Help and Support.

MDAC and Microsoft .NET

If you are using the Windows 2000 operating system, install MDAC 2.7 or later. Windows 2003 does not

need an updated, or current, version of MDAC installed to work with SoftGrid at this time. Make sure you

have properly installed IIS 5.0 or later. After installing the required versions of MDAC and IIS, install

Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or later on Windows 2000 Server computers. Windows 2003 Server

computers will already have .NET Framework 1.1 installed; you will need to upgrade to Microsoft .NET

Framework 2.0.

After installing IIS, MDAC, and Microsoft .NET, restart your computer before proceeding.

Do not "lockdown" these or any component of this server, or try to reuse your standard server image. The

purpose of this limited trial is to evaluate SoftGrid in a test lab—not to determine whether SoftGrid will run

in your production environment.

Active Directory

Before you install SoftGrid Application Virtualization Server, you must create the following objects in

Active Directory:

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Organizational Unit (OU): Create an OU in Active Directory for SoftGrid-specific groups, and for the

necessary SoftGrid domain account. We recommend that you name this OU "MicrosoftVirtualApps."

Domain Test User Account: This account will be the user test account for SoftGrid end-user

functionality.

SoftGrid Administrative Group: SoftGrid requires you to select an Active Directory group to use as a

SoftGrid Administrators group. You can use any existing group or you can create a new Active

Directory SoftGrid Administrators group for controlling administrative access to SoftGrid Management

Console. Add to this group every user who needs to access SoftGrid Management Console. You can

choose any name for this group or you can choose a name from a list during installation. You cannot

create this group directly from the SoftGrid installer. For the purposes of this guide, we will use the

name "SoftGrid Administrators" for this group.

Note For the purposes of this guide, only a single domain setup is supported in your test lab

environment. If you create groups, create them as global groups. Multi-domain and multi-forest

scenarios require a different setup and are covered in Microsoft Training courses.

SoftGrid Active Directory Browser User: You must create a user account set not to expire for the

SoftGrid platform to use to browse Active Directory. The account user name and password cannot

contain the # character, or the SoftGrid installer will fail. For the purposes of this guide, we will use

the account name "sgbrowser."

SoftGrid Users Group: SoftGrid requires that all user accounts that access SoftGrid functions be a

member of a provider policy associated with a single group for general platform access. You can use

an existing group or create a new group (such as ―SoftGrid Users‖). For the purposes of this guide,

we will use the Domain Users group.

Application Groups: SoftGrid associates the right to use an individual application with a group. For

this guide, we will associate all test applications with the Domain Users group, even though many

other options exist for production use.

Note It is essential that you add your domain test user account to each of the groups discussed in the

previous list. If you do not, application shortcuts on the SoftGrid client will not display in your test user

account.

Verify Microsoft .NET Registration

On a Windows 2003 Server computer, to ensure that Microsoft .NET is properly registered with IIS,

perform the following steps:

1. From Administrative Tools click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

2. Expand Internet Information Services | {server_name}, and then click Web Service Extensions.


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3. Right-click ASP.NET v.X.X.XXXX, and then click Allow, if necessary. If ASP.NET is not available,

then Microsoft .NET is installed but ASP.NET has not been installed. Perform the following steps:

a. In Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs.

b. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.

c. Select Application Server, and then click Details....

d. Select the ASP.NET check box, and then click OK.

e. Click Next.

f. Click Finish.

On a Windows 2000 Server computer, to ensure Microsoft .NET is properly registered with IIS,

perform the following steps:

1. Open a command-line tool.

2. Go to %SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\%VersionNumber%.

3. Type aspnet_reg /i.

Server Installation

1. Verify that the name of the computer does not start with a number.

2. Insert the MDOP 2007 CD.

3. On the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance page, click Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization.

4. Click Install the Microsoft System Center Virtual Application Server.

5. On the Welcome page, click Next.

6. Read and accept the license agreement, and then click Next. 7. Type a user name and organization in the corresponding boxes, and then click Next.

8. On the Setup Type page, click Typical install, and then click Next.

9. On the Required Web Service Extensions warning page, click Next.

10. On the Database Server page (Figure 2), leave the default Install MSDE, and then click Next.


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Figure 2. Database Server selection page

11. On the Database Password page (Figure 3), enter and confirm an Administrator Password for the

Microsoft SQL Server™ Desktop Engine (MSDE) database. This password is for the database "SA"

Administrator account.

12. Type and confirm a User Password for System Center Virtual Application Server. This password is

used by System Center Virtual Application Server to access the database for the Microsoft account

you created.

You will need these passwords to update or modify the SoftGrid platform. Because you are installing

SoftGrid on a completely isolated network, we recommend that you choose the default passwords

"sa" and "Microsoft" for the database password and user password, respectively, because they are

easy to remember for this trial.

Note Do not use the # character in either of the passwords or anywhere else in the installation

program. This will cause the SoftGrid installer to fail.


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Figure 3. Database Password page

13. Click Next.

14. On the Directory Server page (Figure 4), the installer will automatically populate the Domain Name

box.

15. Enter the user name and password for the browser account that you created ("sgbrowser"), and then

click Next.

Figure 4. Directory Server page


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16. On the Administrator Group page, type the name of the SoftGrid Administrators group, and then

click Next.

You can also type the first few letters and then click Next to select from a list of groups (Figure 5).

Click the relevant group from the list, and then click Next. For simplicity, you can also choose the

"Domain Users" group for this trial.

Figure 5. Select Administrator Group page with list of groups

17. On the Default Provider Group page, type the name of the SoftGrid Users group, and then click

Next. This is the group to which all users must belong for access to SoftGrid-enabled applications.

You can also type the first few letters of the group, and then click Next to display a list of groups.

Click the relevant group from the list, and then click Next. For simplicity, you can also choose the

"Domain Users" group for this trial.

18. On the Server Group page, accept the default, and then click Next.

19. On the Content Path page (Figure 6), accept the default location of the SoftGrid ―content‖ folder, and

then click Next.


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Figure 6. Content Path page

20. The wizard now has all the information it needs to perform the installation. Click Install.

The wizard will copy the necessary files, install services, and create a database as specified in the

preceding steps. When the wizard finishes, the SoftGrid Management Console shortcut is displayed

in the Administrative Tools group.

21. In Windows Explorer, go to C:\ProgramFiles\Softricity\SoftGrid Server\ and share the content

folder. Ensure that Read access to this folder is given to Everyone. In this guide we will share the

folder using Windows file-sharing settings; however, in a production environment you might chose a

different means of sharing the folder.

Note You must share the SoftGrid ―content‖ folder.

You now have installed System Center Virtual Application Server. If you encountered any errors

during the process, please refer to the ―Troubleshooting‖ section at the end of this guide.


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Installing SoftGrid Client for Windows Desktops

The section guides you through the step-by-step process of installing the Windows Desktops version of

SoftGrid Application Virtualization Client.


2. On the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance page, click Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization.

3. Click Install Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization for Desktops.


5. Read and accept the license agreement, and then click Next. 6. On the Destination Folder page, leave the default installation location, and then click Next.

7. On the Cache Settings page, leave the default data storage setting. Note that SoftGrid Client can

handle a persistent application cache size up to 65,535 MB (65 GB).

8. Leave the Skip advanced data storage settings and accept defaults check box selected, and then

click Next.

9. On the Desktop Configuration Server page (Figure 7), select Setup a Desktop Configuration

Server now.

10. In the Display Name box and in the Host Name box type the host name of the SoftGrid server, and

then click Next.

Figure 7. Desktop Configuration Server page

11. Click Install to begin the installation of SoftGrid Application Virtualization Client.

12. When the installation is complete, click Finish.

13. To complete the configuration, click Yes when prompted to restart the computer (required).


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Testing the Default Application

You are now ready to test the basic functionality of the system by launching the Default SoftGrid

Application on a SoftGrid client. The Default SoftGrid Application was automatically installed during

SoftGrid platform installation.

Perform the following on the SoftGrid Application Virtualization server that contains your test user

account:

1. From Administrative Tools, click SoftGrid Management Console. SoftGrid Management Console

is installed on the System Center Virtual Application Server by default. In a production environment,

you can install SoftGrid Management Console on any system capable of running Microsoft

Management Console (MMC).

2. In SoftGrid Management Console, in the Actions pane, click Connect to SoftGrid System (Figure

8).

3. In the Manage SoftGrid Systems dialog box, type localhost to connect to the SoftGrid Management

Web Service, and then click OK.

Figure 8. Connect to SoftGrid System

Note The account you are using to log on to the SoftGrid server computer must be a member of the

SoftGrid Administrators Group in Active Directory, unless you chose to allow members of the Domain

Users group or some other group to administer SoftGrid during this evaluation. Advanced options in

the Connect dialog box require additional setup and are beyond the scope of this guide.

4. In the console tree, expand localhost, and then click Applications (Figure 9).


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Figure 9. SoftGrid Management Console

5. In the details pane, click Default SoftGrid Application and, in the Actions pane, click Properties.

6. In the OSD Path box, type the path to the ―content‖ share immediately before the .osd filename

(\\[server name]\CONTENT\DefaultApp.osd). Type the same path immediately before the .ico

filename directory in the Icon Path box. Make sure you specify network paths that are accessible to

your SoftGrid client (Figure 10).

Figure 10. Default Application SoftGrid Properties page

7. Click the Access Permissions tab. You might want to add the Domain Users group if it is not already

added.

8. Click the Shortcuts tab, and then select Publish to User’s Desktop.


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9. Click OK to accept the changes for the default application.

Perform the following on the SoftGrid client:

10. From Administrative Tools, click SoftGrid Client Management Console.

11. In the console tree, click Desktop Configuration Servers (Figure 11).

Figure 11. SoftGrid Client Management Console

12. In the details pane, right-click [server name], and then click Refresh Server. 13. On the desktop, double-click the Default SoftGrid Application shortcut. A status bar, displayed

above the notification area, reports the application is being launched. If a "Launch Failed" message

displays, click the message to see more information about the error. After a successful launch, the

title screen for the Microsoft Default Application displays (Figure 12).

Figure 12. Microsoft Default Application dialog box


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14. Click OK to close the dialog box. The SoftGrid system is now running. If you have encountered any

errors performing these procedures, please refer to the ―Troubleshooting‖ section at the end of this

guide.


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SoftGrid Client for Terminal Servers

The installation and operation of SoftGrid Client for Terminal Servers is almost identical to that of SoftGrid

Client for Windows Desktops.

Installation

Install the SoftGrid Terminal Server client (softgrid-ts-setup.msi) using the Add/Remove Programs wizard

in Control Panel. Then, follow the remaining setup instructions for SoftGrid Client for Windows Desktops.

Testing Applications

You can log on to the Terminal Server multiple times using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and test the

various applications simultaneously. For more information, follow the test instructions for the SoftGrid

Client for Windows Desktops.


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Installing SoftGrid Sequencer

SoftGrid Sequencer packages the SoftGrid-enabled applications that are streamed to SoftGrid clients.

Before You Install SoftGrid Sequencer

The sequencer computer must meet the same minimum requirements as SoftGrid Client for Windows

Desktops, but a fast workstation-class computer will significantly speed up the sequencing process. The

workstation should be set up with one or more hard disk drives with ample disk space.

There are two main methods for setting up the sequencer computer:

Option 1: Virtual Machine

Do a fresh install of a supported operating system to a virtual machine (VM). Do not use your "standard

desktop image" or install any other applications on this image at this time. Then follow the product specific

steps below.

Microsoft Virtual Server product: Add a second dynamically expanding virtual hard disk. Within the

virtual machine, set the drive letter to "Q." Enable Undo disks and commit the existing configuration. After

each time you sequence an application, turn off the virtual machine and discard the undo disk to this VM

to get back to a "clean" operating system.

VMware product: Edit the virtual machine settings and add an independent persistent virtual disk. Within

the virtual machine, set the drive letter to "Q." Create a snapshot of the VM. After each time you

sequence an application, you will "revert" to this snapshot to get back to a "clean" operating system.

Option 2: Local Image

Create at least two partitions on the hard disk. Make the first partition at least 4 GB in size for the

operating system. The second partition should consume the remainder of the hard disk space, preferably

more than 10 GB in total size. Set the drive letter to "Q" for the second partition. Do a fresh install of a

supported operating system to the first partition. Do not use your "standard desktop image" or install any

other applications on this image at this time. Using a utility like Symantec Ghost, store a disk image of the

first partition on the second partition. This method lets you rapidly restore the sequencing computer to a

"clean" installation of your operating system, after each time you sequence an application.

Why a Q Drive?

Why sequence to a Q drive? The purpose is for the core application installation path to remain constant

across all computers in the enterprise, which might not have constant system drives; for example, drive M

for terminal servers and drive C for desktop computers. This is accomplished by using a real drive or

partition on the SoftGrid Sequencer computer and a virtual drive on SoftGrid clients. The virtual drive on

SoftGrid clients is created by SystemGuard virtualization technology and not by a disk partitioning tool.


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The Q drive is the default drive letter and can be changed if needed in a production rollout. Microsoft has

a method to handle applications that must be installed to a fixed drive; this is explained in Microsoft

training courses.

Installing SoftGrid Sequencer

Be sure that the sequencer computer is joined to the common domain.

Note Do not install SoftGrid Sequencer on a computer that hosts SoftGrid Server or SoftGrid Client.


2. On the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance page, click Microsoft

SoftGrid Application Virtualization.

3. Click Install Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization for Sequencer.


5. Read and accept the licensing agreement, and then click Next.

6. Accept the default installation path, and then click Next. 7. Click Install.

8. When the installation is complete, click Finish. SoftGrid Sequencer will start.


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Sequencer Files

To enable a Windows application for SoftGrid, the sequencer produces the following files:

ICO – The .ico (icon) file specifies the icon that appears on the SoftGrid client desktop. When you

double-click the icon, you are actually launching the shortcut to the corresponding .osd file, described

below, that begins the data streaming and application launch process. From the user perspective, the

experience of launching a SoftGrid-enabled application is identical to launching a locally stored

application.

OSD – The .osd (Open Software Description) file provides the information necessary to locate the .sft file

for the application and set up and launch the application. This information includes the application name,

the name and path to the executable file, the name and path to the .sft file, the suite name, the supported

operating systems, and general comments about the application.

SFT – The .sft (SoftGrid) file contains the asset files that include one or more Windows applications.

SoftGrid Sequencer, without altering the source code, packages these asset files into chunks of data that

can be streamed to the SoftGrid client. The file is divided into two distinct blocks. The first block, called

Feature Block 1 (FB1), consists of the application’s most-used features. FB1 is streamed to the SoftGrid

client the first time the user launches the application. The remainder of the application is in Feature Block

2 (FB2). FB2 is streamed to the SoftGrid client on demand. By default, the blocks are divided into 32 KB

"chunks" of data.

SPRJ – The .sprj (Sequencer project) file is generated when a project is saved. The .sprj file contains a

list of files, directories, and registry entries that are excluded by the sequencer. Load this file in the

sequencer to add, change, delete, or upgrade any of the applications in the suite. A common example of

when you might use the .sprj files is when you add service packs to an application.


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Sequencing Adobe Acrobat Reader

This section walks through a simple sequencing. You can use Adobe Acrobat Reader as a test case that

you can easily and quickly deploy using the SoftGrid platform.

1. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader 8 from www.adobe.com and copy the installer to a temporary

directory on the sequencer computer.

2. Create a directory on the sequencer desktop called AdobeAcrobatReader8. In this directory you will

save the output of the sequencer.

3. Click Start | All Programs | Softricity | SoftGrid Sequencer to open SoftGrid Sequencer (Figure

13).

Figure 13. SoftGrid Sequencer

4. Click File | New Package....

5. When prompted for assistance, click Yes. The Package Configuration Wizard displays.


7. On the Package Information page, enter the following information:

a. Suite Name: Adobe Acrobat Reader 8. The suite name is a common label for all the applications

in the software suite; for example, the suite Microsoft® Office 2000 includes Microsoft Word,

Microsoft PowerPoint®, etc.

b. Title: Acrobat Reader. This is the name of the application you are sequencing.

c. Comments: Use this field to specify information such as the person who sequenced the

application. You can also include the name and location of the installation document.

d. Server URL:

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i. Host Name: Enter the host name of the SoftGrid server (SGSERVER). The host name

defaults to an environment variable (%SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER%). To use the variable, you

must have previously set the variable on the SoftGrid client to the host name of the SoftGrid

server.

ii. Path: AdobeAcrobatReader8. In a production environment, you could further organize

applications within additional subdirectories, such as EMEA and APAC.

Figure 14. Package Information page

8. Click Next. 9. On the Operating Systems page (Figure 15), click the operating systems on which you intend this

package to run and use the right arrow to move the selected items to the right pane.


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Figure 15. Operating Systems page

10. Click Finish.

11. On the Welcome to the Installation Wizard page, click Next.

12. On the Sequencing Parameters page, click Next.

13. On the Monitor Installation page, click Begin Monitoring... (Figure 16). This action minimizes the

sequencer so you can start the application installation process.

Figure 16. Monitor Installation page

Note Open instances of Windows Explorer and command prompts will not be monitored. In the

following steps you can install the application using Windows Explorer.


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14. Open a new instance of Windows Explorer, go to the Q drive, and create a new folder called

acrd8.001.

15. Run the Adobe Acrobat Reader 8 installer and continue until the Destination Folder page (Figure

17) displays.

Figure 17. Adobe Reader Destination Folder page

16. Click Change Destination Folder. Replace the existing folder path to Q:\acrd8.001 and finish the

installation.

17. If the installation wizard prompts you for a restart, click Yes. The sequencer will catch the restart

request and prevent it.

18. Restore the minimized SoftGrid Sequencer, and then click Stop Monitoring.

19. In the Browse for Folder dialog box, go to Q:\acrd8.001 (the installation folder...), and then click OK.

20. SoftGrid Sequencer will scan the computer for changes. When monitoring is complete, click Next.

For applications using Microsoft® Windows® Installer, include the current version of installer file

libraries to eliminate version conflicts on client computers.

21. On the Additional Files to Map to the VFS page, click Finish.


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Figure 18. Additional Files to Map to the VFS page

22. On the Welcome to the Application Wizard page, click Next.

The Application Wizard detects and lists shortcuts created by the application installer. SoftGrid

Sequencer creates an .osd and .ico file for each shortcut. Using the Configure Applications page, you

can edit, remove, or add shortcuts.

23. In the console tree, click Applications.

Figure 19. Configure Applications page

24. In the details pane, click Adobe Reader 8, and then click Edit.

25. In the Edit Application dialog box, set the following .osd file properties (Figure 20), and then click

Save.

a. Name: Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.1.


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b. Version: 1.0

c. OSD Filename: Adobe_Acrobat_Reader_8.osd.

Figure 20. Shortcut settings of Acrobat Reader 8.1

26. Click Save.

27. In the console tree, expand Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.

28. Click File Type Associations to view the File Type Associations (FTAs) the sequencer has recorded.

29. Click Shortcuts to view where the shortcuts for this application will be located on SoftGrid client

desktop.

30. When you are done viewing this information, click Next.

The Launch Applications page lets you launch the applications associated with the shortcuts SoftGrid

created. This will determine Feature Block 1 (FB1), which contains the portion of the application

required to launch the application on the SoftGrid client.

31. Click Adobe Acrobat Reader 8, and then click Launch.

32. Accept the license agreement, and then close the Beyond Adobe Reader page.

33. When the application opens, click Edit | Preferences.

34. In the resulting dialog box, under Application Startup, clear the Show splash screen check box,

and then click OK.

35. Close the application; the status bar will show the procedure as complete. (If the status bar does not

change for more than 30 seconds, you might need to click Stop, and then click Terminate.)

36. Click Next, and then click Finish.

37. You can now use SoftGrid Sequencer to view the results. Click each tab and review the following

information:


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a. Properties: Provides basic information, such as Creation date, Max Block Size, Launch Size,

Compression Algorithm, and Block Size.

b. Files: Shows the files the application copied, modified, or created and where those files reside.

c. Virtual Registry: Displays every registry setting that was created or modified. You can view and

change the settings, and manually create and delete new keys and values.

d. Virtual File System: Displays the hierarchical directory of the files that comprise the package in

common system folders.

e. Virtual Services: Displays information about any Windows NT services that were detected and

that are included as part of the sequence.

f. OSD: Displays a hierarchical representation of the .xml descriptor file contents. You can modify

the values to suit the application. By clicking the CODEBASE key in the left pane, the right pane

displays the connection details.

38. Click File | Save, go to the folder AdobeAcrobatReader8 that you created on the desktop and save

your work as acrd8.sprj.

The files produced by SoftGrid Sequencer (.ico, .osd, .sft, and .sprj) must be in the shared "content"

directory on the System Center Virtual Application Server (the default location is C:\Program

Files\Microsoft\SoftGrid Server\content).

39. Copy the folder AdobeAcrobatReader8 to the "content" share on the application server.

40. Add the new application to SoftGrid Management Console, following the instructions provided with

the presequenced application.

41. On the SoftGrid client, trigger a refresh of the virtual application and then launch the new sequence of

Adobe Acrobat Reader 8. If needed, follow the instructions in the section "Testing the Default

Application" earlier in this guide.


Page | 31

Sequencing the Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for Internet

Explorer

This section walks you through a creating a virtual environment for Windows® Internet Explorer® with the

Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) included. The Sun Java Console will not appear when a local copy

of Internet Explorer is started; but only within the virtual copy. Note that Internet Explorer is part of the

operating system, and therefore we will point to the local Internet Explorer executable file on each

SoftGrid client, and apply the changes within the virtual environment on top of the local environment.

1. Download the windows XP/Vista/200/2003 Offline Java installer from

http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp.

2. Copy the Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installer to a temporary directory on the sequencer

computer.

3. Create a directory on the sequencer desktop called IEwithJava. You will save the output of the

sequencer to this directory.

4. Click Start | All Programs | Softricity | SoftGrid Sequencer to open SoftGrid Sequencer.

5. Click File | New Package.... 6. When asked if you would like assistance, click Yes. The Package Configuration Wizard displays.


8. On the Package Information page, provide the following information:

a. Suite Name: IE with Java. The suite name is a common label for all the applications in the

software suite. For example, the suite Microsoft Office 2000 comprises Microsoft Word, Microsoft

PowerPoint, etc.

b. Title: IE with Java. This is the name of the application you are sequencing.

c. Comments: Use this field to specify information such as the person who sequenced the

application.

d. Server URL: The host name of the SoftGrid server (SGSERVER). The host name defaults to an

environment variable (%SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER%). To use the variable, you must have

previously set the variable on the SoftGrid client to the host name of the SoftGrid server.

e. Path: IEwithJava.

9. Click Next.

10. On the Operating Systems page, click the operating systems on which you intend this package to

run and use the right arrow to move the selected items to the right pane.

11. Click Finish.

12. On the Welcome to the Installation Wizard page, click Next.

13. On the Sequencing Parameters page, click Next. 14. On the Monitor Installation page, click Begin Monitoring.... This action minimizes the sequencer so

you can start the application installation process.

http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp


Page | 32

Note Open instances of Windows Explorer and command prompts will not be monitored. In the

following steps you can install the application using Windows Explorer.

15. In a new instance of Windows Explorer, go to the Q drive and create a new folder called IEjava.001.

16. Open the Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installer.

17. Select the Show advanced options panel check box, and then click Accept.

18. Click the Change button, type Q:\IEjava.001\Java\jre1.6.0_02\ for the installation directory, and then

click OK.

Figure 21. Sun Java custom installation page

19. Click Next to complete the installation.

20. Restore the minimized SoftGrid Sequencer.

21. Click Stop Monitoring.

22. In the Browse For Folder dialog box, click the Q:\IEjava.001\ installation folder you specified in the

setup wizard (note shorter path), and then click OK.

23. SoftGrid Sequencer will scan the computer for file and registry changes. Click Next to continue.

For applications using Windows Installer, include the current version of installer file libraries to

eliminate version conflicts on client computers.

24. On the Additional Files to Map to the VFS page, click Finish.

25. On the Welcome to the Application Wizard page, click Next.

The Application Wizard detects and lists shortcuts created by the application installer. SoftGrid

Sequencer creates an .osd and .ico file for each shortcut. Using the Select Shortcuts page, you can

edit, remove, or add shortcuts.


Page | 33

26. In the console tree, click Applications, and then click Add.

27. Fill in the following information (Figure 22):

a. Application Path: “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE”

b. Name: IE with Java

c. Version: 1.0

d. OSD File Name: IEwithJava.osd

Figure 22. Shortcut settings for Internet Explorer

28. Click Add.

29. In the details pane, click Java(TM) 2 Platform Standard Edition binary, click Remove, and then

click OK.

30. In the details pane, click Java(TM) Web Start Launcher, click Remove, and then click OK.

31. Click Next.

Using the Launch Shortcuts page you can start the applications associated with the shortcuts

created. This will determine Feature Block 1 (FB1), which contains the portion of the application

required to start the application on the SoftGrid client.

32. Click IE with Java, and then click Launch.

33. Press the ALT key to display the menu bar, and click Tools | Sun Java Console so the sequencer

can properly populate FB1.

34. In the Java console click Close, and then close Internet Explorer. (You might need to click Stop, and

then click Terminate.)

35. Click Next. 36. When the sequencer is finished, click Finish.


Page | 34

37. Click File | Save and save your work as IEwthJava.sprj in the IEwithJava folder on the desktop.

The files produced by SoftGrid Sequencer (.ico, .osd, .sft, and .sprj) must be located in the shared

"content" directory on the System Center Virtual Application Server (the default location is C:\Program

Files\Microsoft\SoftGrid Server\content).

38. Copy the folder IEwithJava to the "content" directory on the application server.

39. Add the new application to SoftGrid Management Console, following instructions provided with the

presequenced application. Use ―IEwithJava" as the Active Directory group.

40. On the SoftGrid client, refresh of the virtual application and then start the new sequence. If needed,

follow the instructions in the section "Testing the Default Application" earlier in this guide.


Page | 35

Troubleshooting

This section addresses some of the most common pitfalls that you might encounter when you install,

configure, and test the SoftGrid platform.

If you need additional help, search either the Microsoft Knowledge Base or the SoftGrid TechCenter.

Common Errors on SoftGrid Client

The following sections list the most common errors encountered with SoftGrid Client and the most

common solutions to those errors.

When you attempt to refresh the server you get an error that says, "The SoftGrid Client failed to

download..." and "The server could not authorize you to access the requested data..."

The application shortcut is not on the SoftGrid Client desktop.

The application did not stream to SoftGrid Client. If the application fails to stream you see the "Launch

Failed" error message above the notification area.

Possible Causes

The user account used to log on to the SoftGrid client is not a member of the SoftGrid Users Group or

is not a domain user account.

The .sft, .ico, and/or .osd files are not in the SoftGrid Server ―content‖ folder. Copy these file to

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\SoftGrid Server\content.

Mistyped .osd and .ico paths in the application record in SoftGrid Management Console.

The SoftGrid client cannot access the ―content‖ directory on the SoftGrid server.

The SoftGrid client cannot access the SoftGrid server. Check network settings and cabling.

―Content: folder on the SoftGrid server is not set to share or to be shared with everyone who has read

access.

The SoftGrid client is not a member of the domain.

The user lacks necessary permissions to access the application. Reread and follow the procedure

regarding importing .osd files, paying close attention to setting the access group.

The operating system of the SoftGrid client computer is not listed in the .osd file of the application.

If none of the above appears to be the cause of the problem, check SoftGrid Client log Sftlog.txt in

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\ SoftGrid for Windows Desktop for errors.

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