AppV Client and Sequencer Build

This is your test system build configuration. =Your machine=

You will need the fastest machine you can get your hands on, ideally with several drives and at least 8Gb.
 * Ideally your system wants one drive, your Sequencer VM another and your Client VM another.
 * The Sequencer VM wants at least 4 Gb RAM, the test Client VM enough to run your packages (1Gb seems ok for most) and the rest (3Gb) for your main machine.

Master VM build
The idea is to build a VM that is as close as possible to the end machine the AppV package will end up running on.

At this uni, you basically need a WinXP SP3 machine, with the c++ 2005, c++ 2008 redistributables (and service packs) & .NET up to 3.5 SP1 installed.

You will need all the previous .NET (e.g. 1.1, 2.0 etc all adding including their service packs. ) so do this FIRST before running windows update.

I believe you need to do this manually as running windows updates will skip various versions to get to the latest and some software needs/checks things that won't be 'there' if this is the case. (reg keys, bits of old .NET versions)

Once they are built up windows updates should just about take it the rest of the way, just make sure it stops at IE7 and .NET 3.5

When you are happy it is right, clone it. One will become the sequencer, one the test client.

If you are using Virtualbox (highly recommended) then create a shared folder to a folder below your OSD folder so you can easily access things to install/sequence.

In the windows VM, map this to a drive letter like Z.

N.B. Remember some things wont install properly over this if you use it as a UNC share rather than a mapped drive (in Windows). Also some things dont even like a mapped drive so you may have to copy it locally when trying to sequence.

Do this once and do it right to save yourself pain later.

Client
This is for testing your package in as real world a situation as possible.

This VM only needs enough memory to run the application.

Install the client using the default options. At uni we use 4.5.2.17140

Snapshot this at the point you have the OSD folder open (or whatever you run the applications from) so you can test as soon as you start the VM.

Assuming you are using Virtualbox with a 'shared folder', change the registry key 'ApplicationSourceRoot' to your root OSD location, to override what is in your 'real' OSD files for fast testing.

In the above as an example, \\VBOXSVR\Z_Drive\OSD\7Zip465.C01\7Zip465.osd would be your actual structure, so the final slash here .....OSD\ represents the real server's root.

Note, the value you will see in registry editor GUI is 'file://\\VBOXSVR\Z_Drive\OSD\'.

Note, you can also use a file letter and path like z:\OSD\ (dont prefix with file://)

Some (larger?) applications (like PASW SPSS) done launch via filepath and you will need to launch from a HTTP server on your local machine, this is the replacement reg key

Sequencer
Install [Gavotte's ramdisk] as a V: ramdrive. Set it to big enough to fit anything you want to sequence. 2-3Gb is usually enough. Obviously if you are doing something huge you may need to change it and take some away from your main machine.

Install the sequencer application using all the defaults. At uni we use 4.5.2.17140

This will speed up sequencing by miles if you set everything up as suggested. e.g.

You sequence the application (run it) from your mapped Z drive (vbox shared folder) which resides on HDD1, the Sequencer VM is running on HDD2 and the ramdisk is running in RAM. This should stop any bottlenecks in the I/O.

Shut down the VM and snapshot its state, if you snapshot it running, you will end up with duplicate package GUID's which won't get you very far!

=See Also=