CM L05 - Introduction to Application Virtualization with SVS Lab

Filed under: Software Virtualization Solution Features/Benefits

Submitted by Admin on 14 April, 2008 - 10:22.

Dale Bethers, Symantec Engineering Manager, and Jeremy Hurren, Symantec Principle Software Engineer, led this lab where participants gained hands-on experience with the basics of creating, delivering and maintaining Altiris Virtual Software Packages (VSPs) using SVS Admin and Altiris Notification Server.

Lab Notes

Altiris® Software Virtualization Solution™ (SVS™) software is a revolutionary approach to software management. By placing applications and data into managed units called Virtual Software Packages, SVS allows you to instantly activate, deactivate, or reset applications and to avoid conflicts between applications without altering the base Windows installation. In this lab, participants gain hands-on experience creating and deploying Altiris® Virtual Software Packages™ that can be distributed to client computers and turned on or off at will.

At the end of this lab, you should be able to understand the components of Software Virtualization Solution 2.1 and complete the following tasks:

Create Virtual Software Packages
Deploy Virtual Software Packages using Altiris Notification Server software
Maintain a previously deployed Virtual Software package

Notes

A brief presentation will introduce this lab session and discuss key concepts.
The lab will be directed and provide you with step-by-step walkthroughs of key features.
Feel free to follow the lab using the instructions on the following pages. You can optionally perform this lab at your own pace.
Be sure to ask your instructor any questions you may have.
To download an evaluation of SVS standalone visit www.getsvs.com. To download an evaluation of SVS Solution visit http://www.altiris.com/Download.aspx.
Thank you for coming to our lab session.

Understanding Software Virtualization Solution

Software Virtualization Solution 2.1 provides improved functionality in terms of the performance and customization of virtual software.

Some of the key feature changes include:

Support for Windows Vista operating system
Increased performance of registry and file system operations
Ability to exclude directories from virtualization globally

Understanding Your Lab Configuration

This lab uses virtual machine (VM) technology to simulate two computers. One virtual machine is configured as an Altiris server and is running a Microsoft SQL Server database. The remaining virtual machines function as managed computers that are running Altiris® client software.

The 2003 Server and XP Pro client machines are configured to auto login to an administrator account using "Administrator" as the user name and "mflab07" as the password.

The virtual machines have Software Virtualization Solution installed.

Exercise 1: Create Virtual Software Packages

In this exercise we will install Firefox into a virtual software package through SVS Admin, activate and deactivate the virtual software package, browse Files and Registry settings in the package, and export the package to deploy to other machines.

A. Create New Application Layer

Double click Altiris Software Virtualization Admin icon
File > Create New Layer > Install Application > Next
Layer name: Lab Firefox
Next > Single program capture
Browse > Desktop\Installers\Firefox Setup 2.0.012.exe > Open
Next > Finish
Proceed through Firefox setup like you would normally, uncheck launch Firefox at the end of the install.

B. Activate/Deactivate Lab Firefox Layer

Start > My Computer > browse to c:\Program Files
Select Lab Firefox layer in SVS Admin
Right click > Deactivate Layer
Notice Mozilla Firefox icon on desktop disappears and Mozilla Firefox directory no longer exists under c:\Program Files.
Select Lab Firefox layer in SVS Admin
Right click > Activate Layer
Notice Mozilla Firefox icon on desktop appears and Mozilla Firefox directory now exists under c:\Program Files.

C. View Files and Registry Settings for Lab Firefox layer

Select Lab Firefox layer > right click > Deactivate Layer
Right click > Edit Advanced Layer Properties
Browse to Lab Firefox (Read-only) > System > COMMONDESKTOP > notice the Mozilla Firefox.lnk shortcut file
Click on Registry tab
Browse to Lab Firefox (Read-only) > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Mozilla > Mozilla Firefox> notice the registry value in the right hand pane
Close Edit Layer dialog

D. Export Lab Firefox layer

Select Lab Firefox layer in SVS Admin
Right click > Export Layer
Browse to Desktop\VSA > Save > OK
Close SVS Admin

Exercise 2: Deploy Lab Firefox layer to client through the Altiris Console

In this exercise you will create a Virtual Software package and task to deploy the Lab Firefox layer to a client computer.

A. Create a Virtual Package

Double click the Altiris Console icon on the desktop.
Under the View menu select Resources.
In the left pane browse to Resources > Software Management > Software Virtualization > Windows > Virtual Software Packages.
Right-click Virtual Software Packages and select New > Virtual Software Package.
Enter the name "Firefox" for the task.
Click the browse button next to Location.
Browse to "Desktop\VSA", select "Lab Firefox.vsa" and click Open.
Click the Apply button.
Notice that the message at the lower-right side of the window says "The Package has been saved successfully."
Close the browser window for the virtual software package.

B. Run Virtual Software Wizard

Under the View menu select Tasks.
In the left pane browse to Software Management > Software Virtualization > Windows > Virtual Software Tasks > Wizard and Status.
In the right pane click on the Run Virtual Software Wizard button
Select Deliver an existing Virtual Package
Select Firefox in the list box > Next
Click Select a Collection
Browse to Collections > Computer Collections > Windows Workstations > select All 32-bit Windows XP Computers > Apply > Finish>OK

C. Update managed XP computer configuration

This step is performed on the XP Client machine.

Click on the VMWare ManageFusion Client tab
Double-click the Altiris Agent icon in the system tray, displaying the Software Delivery dialog box.
Right-click the Altiris Agent icon, and click Altiris Agent Details.
Click the Update Configuration button. Notice that Firefox appears in the Software Delivery dialog box and begins downloading and installing.
When the installation is complete, press F5 to refresh the Windows desktop. You will notice the Mozilla Firefox shortcut appears on the desktop.

D. Test the deployed Firefox layer

Double-click the Mozilla Firefox shortcut on the desktop.
Select don't import anything and click Next.
When prompted to make Firefox the default browser, click Yes. Note that because the lab VMs do not have Internet connectivity, Firefox will display a page indicating that the server was not found.
Close Firefox.

Exercise 3: Manage virtual software on a single managed computer

In this section you will reset the Firefox virtual software package on an individual machine. This restores the virtual software to the state it was in when originally created.

A. Resetting a virtual software package on a machine.

This step is performed on the server machine. Click on the VMWare ManageFusion Server tab.

In the Altiris Console, from the View menu, select Resources.
In the left pane, select Resource Management > Collections > Computer Collections > All Computers.
In the right pane, double-click on the XPPro computer.
In the Managing Resource window that appears, select the Tasks tab.
Click on Manage Virtual Software Packages. A window showing all virtual software on the computer is displayed.
Click on the Firefox virtual software package. Notice that the layer state column contains a drop-down combo box.
Select Reset (Force) from this drop-down list and click Apply.
Close the Managing Resource window.

B. Update managed computer configuration

This step is performed on the client machine.

Double-click the Altiris Agent icon in the system tray, displaying the Software Delivery dialog box.
Right-click the Altiris Agent icon, and click Altiris Agent Details.
Click the Update Configuration button.
Notice that XPPRO-Lab Firefox -Reset (Force) appears in the Software Delivery dialog box and begins running. You will notice the Mozilla Firefox shortcut on the desktop flash.
Press F5 to refresh the Windows desktop.

C. Test the reset Mozilla Firefox

1. Double-click the Mozilla Firefox shortcut on the desktop.
2. You will notice that you are presented with the import wizard, and the default browser prompts again.
3. Click through the options as before and close Firefox.

END OF LAB

Exercise 4 (Optional): Execute a program from a layer

Sometimes you will want to run something as if it was in a layer to capture changes but you do not want the application, or OS component itself, to be virtualized. Internet Explorer is a good example of this. Let's run IE as if it was in a layer.

Create an empty layer in SVS admin, and name it IE Changes.
1. File>Create New Layer>Empty Layer>Next
2. Type 'IE Changes' for the layer name > Next>Finish
3. Right click 'IE Changes'>Activate
Now, using SVSCMD (SVS command line utility), let's make IE run as if it was part of this empty layer.
1. Open a command prompt. Start>Run>cmd>OK
2. Use SVSCMD EXEC to execute IE and capture changes to the IE Changes.
  Example:
```
SVSCMD "IE Changes" exec -path "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"
			
```
IE should launch. Now any files downloaded are anything written by IE is going into your empty layer. This way you can isolate the Internet from your computer. Resetting the layer will delete anything that has been downloaded or written during this session. NOTE: You will get an error if the layer is not active.
Now let's automate this.

Exercise 5 (Optional): OnEvent Actions

SVS has the ability to do automatic tasks when certain events occur. These include PostActivate, PostDeactivate, PreActivate, and PreDeactivate.

A. Using OnEvent Actions for Automation

Now that you have built an IE Changes layer, let's use it to do some OnEvent automation.
Create a VBScript that will launch IE from a layer for you using SVSCMD.
1. Open Notepad>type the following script
2. Here is the syntax:
```
Set oShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.shell")
oShell.run "svscmd ""IE Changes"" exec -path ""c:\program files\internet 
  explorer\iexplore.exe""", 0, true
oShell.run "svscmd ""IE Changes"" d -f r", 0
    
```
  NOTE: 3 double quote characters are required after "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe".
  
  Save this vbscript to c:\windows\iexplore.vbs.
Open the registry on your machine by clicking on Start>Run and type regedit.
Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Altiris\FSL.
You will see some numbers. These are the layer numbers. Click on the number folders and on the right side of the screen look for the name value. Scroll through the numbers until you find the Internet Explorer name. NOTE: Do not use the entry that has the name "Internet Explorer_FSLPEERFSL", this is the Read-write sublayer definition.
Once you find the Internet Explorer layer folder, create a new Multi-String value by right clicking on the layer folder>String Value>name it OnPostActivate.
Double click OnPostActivate> for the value type 'wscript c:\windows\iexplore.vbs'
Close out of the registry, and open the SVS admin tool.
Now activate the IE Changes layer by right clicking the layer>Activate. IE will launch, and all of the changes it makes are being captured to the layer. As soon as you close IE the layer will automatically deactivate and reset, disregarding all changes made in that session.