Brian Duckering, AppStream Sr. Director of Products and Alliances, and Scot Curry, Symantec Sr. Systems Engineer presented this lab demonstrates the various rules that can be applied to applications, users and groups in order to simplify and automate application delivery, license management and license optimization. This lab also explores the three different types of application packages that can be streamed and their different behaviors. Exercises include uploading packages, setting rules, and exploration of desired results.

This lab assumes a basic prerequisite knowledge of Windows and Application installations.

At the end of this lab, you should be able to

• Configure a full set of rules for applications to guarantee license compliance and optimize license consumption.
• Upload prepared application packages to a streaming server (MSI, Snapshot, VSA)
• Configure license rules to correspond to the publisher license agreement.
• Assign provisions and provision expirations based on user and group
• Assign offline privileges
• Establish usage-based license reharvesting rules

Introduction to Rule-based Management

The SVS Professional Streaming System enables applications to be proactively managed, such that the right people have access to the right applications at the right time, and licenses may be automatically enforced and optimized according to existing EULAs and productive use. The following settings will be covered in this lab.

Package Settings

• Enable Offline Execution
• Prepopulate Options: None, Icon, Package
• Package License Expiration

License Settings

• License type: Host vs. User
• Maximum, Maximum Concurrent, Enforcement
• Idle Timer for Reharvesting

User/Group Provision Settings

• Version control
• Provision Expiration
• Enable Offline Execution

Uploading Packages

Application packages must always be "converted" for streaming prior to uploading to the streaming server. The following package types are among those supported for streaming:

• Snapshot (Captured using the Streaming Composer)
• MSI
• VSA
• Tracking Packages

1. Login to the Streaming Console by double-clicking the Streaming Console icon and clicking the Login button (User ID: admin, no password has already been entered.
2. Verify that there are two green lights under Status to indicate all server components are up and running.
3. Click on Packages under Provisioning in the left menu.
4. Click the Add button (a Java applet should start)
5. In the new window (Package Upload Client) click the Add button.
6. Navigate to Desktop/Packages.
7. Select the Snapshot package Visio2003min_3_XP.ZIP and click Open.
8. Click the Upload button. The upload process will start and display status messages. It is done when you see "1 out of 1 package(s) uploaded successfully."
9. Click Exit and refresh the Streaming Console to see the Visio application appear toward the bottom of the list.

Package Settings

Settings applied to individual packages control how that package behaves by default, including how the user is notified of their provision, offline use, and package expiration.

1. Click the Visio link.
2. Leave Enable Offline Execution unchecked.
3. Set the Prepopulate option to Icon.
4. Click Save.
5. Click Back.
6. Expand Visio by clicking the Plus sign to the left of the name.
7. Click the Version 1... link.
8. Click the Settings button at the bottom of the page.
9. Note where you would expire this package on a particular date, but leave the setting at None.

License Settings

The licensing options allow you to match the EULA for each application for compliance, and also to set the reharvesting rules to recover licenses that are no longer being used.

1. Click on Manage License under Provisioning in the left menu.
2. Click the Visio2003 link.
3. Select "User based" for the license model.
4. Click the Edit... button by Maximum Available.
5. In the new window, enter 20 for Maximum Available licenses.
6. Enter 2 for the Maximum licenses per User.
7. Leave "Enforce Maximum License" checked.
8. Click the OK button, and acknowledge the notice in the popup window.
9. Click Save at the bottom of the page, and OK in the Warning dialog.
10. Click the Back button.
11. Click Edit under the Time To Live column for Visio2003.
12. In the new window, enter 30 to remove after 30 days of inactivity.
13. Click Save.

User/Group Provision Settings

Referencing your directory service, you can make specific authorizations for individuals and groups to access applications. They may be given indefinite or expiring provisions and you can control whether they must be on the network to run an application, or if they can disconnect and run the application offline. For this lab, we are using a local list of users and groups instead of a directory service, so no search queries will be necessary.

1. Click on User under Provisioning in the left menu.
2. Select the brian link by Brian Duckering.
3. Note that you will see what groups this individual is a member of on the next page.
4. Click the Provisions button.
5. Check the Default Version of Visio2003
6. Note that you could choose to make this application offline enabled for this user by clicking the blue plug icon. Try it, but set it back to online.
7. Click the Save button.
8. Minimize the Streaming Console.
9. If the Visio icon has not already appeared (within 5 minutes), click the green arrow in the task bar to refresh the desktop. This is how the desktop will appear for the user when they are logged into a machine.

End-user Experience

The goal of streaming is to present the end user with the same or better experience as with a normally and fully installed application. They should not have to learn anything new and application should behave and interact just as the publisher intended.

1. Double-click the Visio icon to start streaming and use Visio.
2. Note that this Snapshot package (not virtualized) is NOT in a layer. It will behave exactly as a normally installed application will behave.
3. As Visio is streaming, double click the diamond icon in the task bar by the clock to open the Streaming Agent. This presents the applications that are currently streamed to the local system and give some client configuration and control options. Some companies choose to turn this interface off for their users.
4. Note the amount and percentage of Visio increase as it is streamed. Visio should open for use after about 5 MB and should stop streaming at about 13 MB, with 10% of the application present.
5. Start to use Visio and you will see the portion of the application in the cache increase. This on-demand streaming will be transparent to the end user.
6. Close Visio and note that the cached portion of the application remains for future executions with no streaming required (until new functions are needed).
7. Note also in the Streaming agent that the expiration indicates that the application will be removed (expired) 30 days from today, assuming no further use.

License Tracking

All consumption and use of licenses is easily visible in the Streaming Console.

1. Open the Streaming Console or make it active if it is just minimized. Note you may need to log in again if too much time has elapsed since you interacted with the Console.
2. Click Manage License to bring up the License summary page again.
3. Note that the Visio application shows that 1 license is now consumed.
4. Click on the Search link next to the number 1 in the License Consumed column.
5. Note that the "brian" has consumed the license, and it also indicates the last time he used the application.
6. Click the Back button.
7. Note the color bars on the right of the summary page that indicate relative utilization of licenses. Notifications can be set based upon a variety of factors, including partial or complete consumption of licenses.
8. Click the Search button next to the number 12 for Adobe Acrobat to see an example where all of the licenses are consumed. Note there are a couple users that have not used the application for several months, an opportunity to recover those licenses for others to use.
9. The Time to Live setting could prevent you from ever having to do release license manually.

Streaming MSI Packages

Patent pending technology allows the Streaming System to take MSI files (converted) in directly to the streaming system and stream them to end-user systems with the install-time logic fully intact. No capture or repackaging is necessary for MSI packages.

1. In the Streaming Console, go to the Packages page and use Add to upload the MSI package spamsoap_MSI.ZIP. This one will go very quickly.
2. When the upload is complete, refresh the packages page and click the Spam Soap link.
3. This time check Enable Offline Execution and Prepopulate Icon. Save. Back.
4. Click on User under Provisioning and select brian, Provisions.
5. Note that Spam Soap indicates that the package is already identified as an offline enabled application by the icon on the right. So there is no need to set offline provision for this user.
6. Check the Default Version for Spam Soap and Save.
7. Minimize the Console and click the green arrow to refresh the desktop if necessary.
8. Double-click the Spam Soap icon to start streaming.
9. Note that this time the streaming progress bar goes back and forth. This is because the streaming system has no idea what logic in the MSI may affect the streaming time.

Streaming Virtualized Packages (VSA)

An SVS virtualized application is simply packaged in such a way that, using a client-side filter driver, the application installs and runs in a layer, protecting the system and other applications from the impact of the new application. The streaming system treats VSA packages just like any other application for the purpose of setting license and provision rules. The difference is in how it is streamed and the end result of a layered application.

1. In the Streaming Console, go to the Packages page and use Add to upload the SVS package Office_97_Pro_SVS_1_XP.ZIP.
2. When the upload is complete, refresh the packages page and click the SVS Office 97 link to enable Icon prepopulation. Note that the link may not be immediately active as it is configured on the backend server (this is the same for all applications). Expanding the application with the plus button, you may see that the application is in version control (more on that in the next example).
3. Click on User Group under Provisioning, and select Marketing, then Provisions. The user brian is a member of the Marketing group, so will automatically get this provision.
4. Check the Default Version of SVS Office 97 and Save. Note that Offline could be set here at the group level and consequently provide offline access to everyone in Marketing, but you don't need to do this.
5. In this case, the icons will only appear in the start menu and not on the desktop (this is controlled during packaging). Click the green arrow if necessary.
6. All of the Office 97 icons should appear under All Programs, but Excel should appear at the top of the list when you click start.
7. Click Excel from either location to start streaming.
8. Note the progress bar has a percentage again (in contrast to MSI streaming), and the status messages refer to SVS and importing layers.
9. Once Excel starts, you may also run Excel 2003 simultaneously to prove to yourself that SVS is doing its job. The application also appears in the SVS Admin utility and can be disabled and reset either from the SVS Admin utility or the Streaming Agent.

Version Control

Managing applications includes making sure that the correct versions are available and being used by the right people. The Streaming System makes this simple and automatic to insure everyone is on the proper version, even if that is different for different people.

1. From the Packages page of the Streaming Console, expand Photoshop to see that there is one version, and it is Photoshop 7.0.
2. Now click Add to upload the Photoshop package in the Packages directory. When this package was converted for streaming, it was identified as a "Version" of an existing package (the one already loaded).
3. When the upload is complete and you refresh the Packages page, you will see a new Version 2 listed under Photoshop. Expanding that will show that it is Photoshop 7.0.1.
4. During the upload process, the Streaming System automatically identifies the delta between the new version and existing versions, so that it can deliver only what has changed if a version is already present on the target system.
5. Check the box next to Version 2 and click the Set Default button at the bottom of the page. That's all you have to do to update all users and groups that are provisioned for the Default version.
6. Minimize the Streaming console and click the Photoshop 7.0 icon. Notice that the streaming dialog that appears (this is configurable) indicates 7.0.1. Only the part that is different between the two versions, and of the part that is already streamed, will be delivered.
7. If you want this to be more seamless, so the users don't have to wait the few extra seconds, open the Console again and change the default back to Version 1. Now click on the Photoshop link and set Prepopulate to Package and Save.
8. Now minimize the Console and press the green arrow. In a few moments the update will happen in the background, 7.0.1 will be replaced by 7.0 and end user would not be bothered by the process.

Tracking Packages

All of the great rule-based controls available for streamed applications can be applied to pre-existing or conventionally installed applications by using tracking packages. Tracking packages are created in the Streaming Composer to target specific applications. The packages are automatically (and silently) deployed to all clients with the streaming agent. From that point on, you will have reports of license consumption, usage, etc. Plus, you can control whether it may be executed, and even attach scripts to handle fancier tasks, like automatically replacing conventionally installed applications with streamed virtualized versions.

1. On the Manage License page, the first package is Acrobat Reader CLT (Conventional License Tracking). It has been deployed and is reporting on a version of Reader downloaded from the Internet.
2. Click Search under License Consumed to see that there is one license consumed on this machine and the last time it was used was February 11.
3. Minimize the Console.
4. Click Start and then click Adobe Reader 8. Then close it.
5. Refresh the current Console page and see that the execution was tracked and Last Used now says today and a few seconds ago.
6. Click User under Provisioning and select brian, then Provisions.
7. Uncheck Acrobat Reader CLT to prevent the user from being able to run Acrobat Reader. Click Save.
8. Try to run Adobe Reader again. A message appears indicating they are not allowed to use it. Other results can be scripted as well.