Horizon View with ThinApp, Application Assignment Explained

One of the new features in VMware Horizon View is the integrated application assignment that simplifies the delivery of ThinApp applications to end-users using the View Administrator console. This is a pretty neat feature that allows deployment of virtualized applications to the desktop based on Desktop Pools or Individual Desktops. It is also possible to create pre-defined templates with a list of applications to be deployed; leaving to the administrator the task to add assignments.

ThinApp packages are hosted in a share on the network. The packages should be hosted in a server near the desktops, especially if they will be streamed to the desktop. The closer they are from the desktop; the more bandwidth available between desktops and file share; and the least the number of network hops between the servers, the better it is. These recommendations will provide better application loading time when streaming packages from network shares.

ThinApp packages in shares are organized into repositories and these repositories may have different locations. It is possible to have different repositories for organizational entities, such as Finance, HR or Call-Center.

After the repository is created the administrator is able to scan for ThinApp Packages. The packages will be displayed as in the figure below, and will be identified as Full Assignment or Streaming. Full Assignment will make the ThinApp packages to be deployed in full (normal installation) to the virtual desktop; and Streaming Assignment will make ThinApp packages be streamed from the network share at execution time.

VMware View agent is responsible for deploying Full Assignments and present Streaming Assignment to the Guest OS. The picture below also demonstrates the creation of two templates.

Once a ThinApp package is selected the administrator is able to see important information about assignments and the desktops executing the application. It is also possible to see vendor information, application path and the events associated to the specific application. For Events it is necessary to setup an Event database using Microsoft SQL or Oracle.

It is really very simple and straight forward.

Now, let’s move to the important bits about publishing ThinApp packages using VMware View.

1 – The ThinApp package MUST have been created altogether with the (.msi) package. If not, VMware View manager will not detect the package when scanning the repository.

2 – For application streaming it is necessary to add the following line to the ThinApp configuration package.

(package.ini)

[BuildOptions]

MSIStreaming=1

Additionally I would recommend adding:
OptimizedFor=Memory

Set the compression to Fast

[Compression]

CompressionType=Fast

Another tip not related to VMware View itself is – if you are plan to have stat full packages where applications will always start with the same setting even if the user change the settings or parameters, add the following to the package.ini file:

;——– General Purpose Parameters ———- 

RemoveSandboxOnExit=1

Want to download this blog as a PDF document, click the link below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZY6uc9QNb80vPw7kREvK55NEXniAwEGa/view

Abd El-Rahman Oreiby

Senior Data Center Engineer

Al Thuraya Security Egypt 

www.abdelrahmanoreiby.weebly.com