System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 has RTMed

The ship has landed. System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 is RTM.

Download from http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/virtualmachinemanager/en/us/default.aspx

Some of the new areas that are available with the product are:

• Hyper-V management
• VMWare management through Virtual Center
• Cluster support
• Delegated Administration
• Physical resource optimization with PRO Tips

Installing Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 (Updated)

Having been working with Softricity and Softgrid 4.1 & 4.2, my initial guess was that installing App-V 4.5 would have been a piece of lemon pie. Well I was certainly dealt with a piece of that on my face when i finallyl got down doing it. After 2 and a half days of wracking my brains and the feeding frenzy that entailed, i finally got it working. phew.. So if anyone out there is still at it.. here's a guide of how i did it in hope that it would help save some of your brain cells :)

If you don't already know, App-V 4.5 comes in an install base of 3 different scenarios. The traditional Softgrid approach (with management server), the new Streaming Server scenario (where AD is not required) and Standalone.

This steps is for the first approach... installing the Application Virtualization Management Server scenario.

Environment Pre-requisites:

App V Management Server
- Windows Server 2003 SP1 [In my test environment, I used Windows Server 21003 R2 SP2]
- IIS 5.0 with ASP.NET [I used IIS 6.0]
- .NET Framework 2.0
- MMC3.0 [I didn't need to install this seperately as it had been included in my SP2]
- Download/Prepare SQL Server 2005 Express Edt. SP2

Client
- Windows XP Pro [I had a Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista Business SP1]
- IE 6

Preparation before App-V

Prep in AD:

1. Create a AD group. This group will be used to grant administrative priviliges to managing App V. (E.g. AppV Admin). Then grant this group Local Admin privileges on the App V Server
2. Create another AD Group. This group will be used to to be assigned to the App V Provider Policy that grants users access to the virtual apps. (E.g. AppV Users)
3. Create a user account that will be used to manage App-V. (E.g. sgadmin)
4. Make the above created user account a member of the AppV Admin group
5. For the purpose of testing, I created a domain user account and made it a member of the AppV Users group (sguser)

Prep on App V Management Server:

1. Install all pre-requisites (.NET Framework 2.0, MMC 3.0, IIS, ASP.NET)
2. Launch installation of SQL Server 2005 Express (In 4.5, MSDE is no longer 'supported')
3. Accept the licensing terms and conditions check box, then click Next
4. In the Installing Prerequisites window, Click Install
5. Click Next when complete. Configuration check will be performed
6. At the installation Welcome screen, click Next
7. Click Next after the pre-requisite check is performed
8. In the Registration Information page, enter a name and Company, then de-select the Hide advanced configuration options. Click Next
9. Ensure Database Services is selected as Installed on Local Drive, then click Next
10. In the Instance Name page, select Default Instance, then click Next (u can use a named instance as well)
11. In the Service Account page, accept all defaults and click Next
12. In the Authentication Mode page, accept all defaults and click Next
13. In the Collation Settings page, accept all defaults and click Next
14. In the Configuration Options page, enable the Add user to SQL Administrators role check box, then click Next
15. In the Error Usage and Reporting page, accept all defaults and click Next
16. Click Install
17. When setup is complete, click Next
18. Click Finish. Then RESTART THE SERVER. This is needed or else the App V setup will not detect the database.
19. Once rebooted, launch the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration Tool from the Start All Programs Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Configuration Tools
20. In the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration Tool Welcome screen, click on the Surface Area Configuration for Features link
21. Click on the CLR Integration node on the left tree pane. Then on the details pane on the right, enable the Enable CLR Integration check box
22. Then click on the OLE Automation node on the left tree pane. Then on the details pane on the right, enable the Enable OLE Automation check box
23. Next, launch the SQL Server 2005 Configuration Manager. 
24. Expand SQL Server Network Configuration then Click on the Protocols node on the left pane, then on the right, enable the TCPIP protocol
25. Restart the SQL Server service

NOTE! Point 20 to 24 was what caused me the 2 and a half day installation delay. I'm not a SQL Express guru and these steps is not mentioned in the MS Trial Guides. If point 20 and 21 is not done, you'll notice that you'll get DB connection errors. Typically when you try to launch your App V console (Error 0000C800)

Installing Application Virtualization Management Server:

1. Launch the App V Management Server installer
2. Accept the licensing terms and conditions check box, then click Next (you have no choice :))
3. In the Microsoft Update page, select the I don’t want to use Microsoft Update option, then click Next (This is only because my test enviornment did not have an Internet connection)
4. In the Registration Information page, enter a name and Organization, then click Next
5. In the Setup Type page, accept the Typical option and click Next
6. In the Configuration Database page, ensure (local) is selected from the dropdown list of servers, then click Next (or the name of your db server/instance)
7. Select the Create New Database option, and accept the default name of APPVIRT (if you resent this name, feel free to change it )
8. Click Next
9. On the Secure Communication Mode page, click Next.
10. On the Port Settings page, click Next
11. On the Administrator Group page, type the name of the Microsoft Application Virtualization Administrators group (AppV Admin for me), and then click Next.
    You can also type the first few letters of the group name, and then click Next, to display a list of groups. Click the relevant group, and then click Next.
12. On the Default Provider Group page, type the name of the Microsoft Application Virtualization Users group (App V Users for me), and then click Next. This is the group to which all users must belong for access to Microsoft Application Virtualization-enabled applications.
13. On the Content Path page, accept the default location of the Microsoft System Center Application Virtualization Management Server content folder, and then click Next.
14. 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 Microsoft System Center Application Virtualization Management Console shortcut is displayed in the Administrative Tools group
15. Click Finish when done
16. In Windows Explorer, go to %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft System Center App Virt Management Server\App Virt Managment Server and share the content folder. Ensure that Read access to this folder is given to Everyone.
17. Launch the Services (services.msc) mmc console and ensure that the Application Virtualization Management Server service is started. If not, Start it.
18. You can now launch the console.
19. The first time the console is launched, a window will pop up to ask what the Web Service to connect to.
20. Enter the name of your App V Management Server or localhost if its on the same machine. Uncheck Secure Connections and ensure it is operating on port 80. If the logged on user is a member of the AppV Admin group then leave the Current Credentials option selected. Then click OK to connect.

Installing the Client:

1. Launch the Client Installer
2. In the Installation Prerequisites Window, click Install
3. On the Application Virtualization Desktop Client window Welcome Screen, click Next
4. Accept the licensing terms and conditions check box, then click Next
5. In the Microsoft Update page, select the I don’t want to use Microsoft Update option, then click Next
6. In the Registration Information page, enter a name and Organization, then click Next
7. In the Setup Type page, select the Custom option and click Next
8. In the Destination Folder page, accept the default location and click Next
9. In the Application Virtualization Data Location, accept defaults and click Next
10. In the Cache Size Settings page, accept defaults and click Next
11. In the Runtime Package Policy Configuration, accept defaults and click Next
12. In the Publishing Server page, select the Set up Publishing Server now checkbox
    a. Display Name: Name of your AppV Server (APPVSVR for me)
    b. Type: Application Virtualization Server
    c. Hostname: Name of your AppV Server (APPVSVR for me)
    d. Port: 554
13. Click Next
14. Click Install
15. Click Finish when complete

This should get it going. Next step... publish some sequenced apps and get down to funky town!!