Application Virtualization: Powerful Delivery or Problematic Distraction?

Application Virtualization: Powerful Delivery or Problematic Distraction? Overcoming the Biggest Hurdles with Virtualizing Applications Introduction ...
Author: Ashlie Caldwell
2 downloads 0 Views 490KB Size
Application Virtualization: Powerful Delivery or Problematic Distraction? Overcoming the Biggest Hurdles with Virtualizing Applications

Introduction Virtualizing applications is perhaps this generation’s most powerful new approach in proactively managing desktops. With it, IT service delivery gains benefits across a range of activities: • With virtualized apps and a few clicks, new software requests automatically become self-service installations. • Uninstalling virtualized software requires little effort other than deleting a few files. • Virtualized applications needn’t impact—or corrupt—the configuration of machines to which they’re installed.

• Auditing license consumption with virtualized applications is a trivially easy activity. With the right delivery platform, license consumption can even be made enforceable.

These bullets describe fixes for nearly all of application management’s biggest challenges, but within them lies a paradox: If application virtualization offers so many useful benefits, why aren’t more people using it? One reason might be the act of virtualizing itself

Out-of-the-box application installation

Convert to virtual application

Virtualized application installation

Application delivery platform

Figure 1. An app’s journey to virtualization

Application virtualization’s problematic distraction Virtualized applications delivered through platforms like Microsoft App-V and System Center, Citrix XenApp, VMware ThinApp and Symantec SWV all require special handling prior to delivery. The act of virtualizing each application requires a time-consuming process.

Using today’s application delivery platforms is easy, but the process of creating virtual applications is hard.

The virtualization process at first blush can seem remarkably straightforward (see Figure 1). One begins with an application’s out-of-the-box installation software and a tool to convert this into the virtual format. This tool “watches” an installation with the goal of identifying the files, registry keys and other configurations that get altered during that installation.

Perfect apps are easy to virtualize. But they are also rare. Admittedly, a well-designed application is easy to virtualize. The perfect application is one whose sequencing for virtualized desktops is little different than for a traditional desktop installation. A perfect application requires little or no extra effort in tuning its virtual configuration once created. Perfect applications also have no dependencies on other software, or instantiate other applications in order to deliver some element of their user interface. Perfect applications are also rare to find.

Once the installation completes, the virtualization tool can then collect and repackage the changes it finds to create a virtualized application. Finally, this virtualized application is inserted into an application delivery platform and made available to users. Notably, each platform has its own proprietary file format for the virtual applications it delivers to users. It is the application delivery platform that seems to get all the attention in IT today. IT’s largest and most-trusted companies, like Microsoft, Citrix, VMware and Symantec, all offer mature delivery solutions with exceptional features and scalability. These platforms have become almost common in IT organizations today, but there’s a problem that’s all too often forgotten in

Share: 2

the excitement surrounding them: Using today’s application delivery platforms is easy, but the process of creating virtual applications is hard.

It is difficult to find IT professionals who have expertise in application virtualization, and when you can find them, they are often expensive to hire. The reason is simple: Like traditional software packaging before it, application virtualization packaging is one of the rare IT skills that is nearly impossible to teach—it can only be learned. Success in virtualizing applications requires expert-level experience with the Windows file system and registry. It requires a deep understanding of how software installations function, as well as detective skills in sleuthing through a poorly written application’s installation to tease out a virtual package that will successfully install and run.

Application virtualization skills, it seems, are also hard to find. Conspiring with these hurdles is the recognition that the virtualization process itself is a time-consuming activity, even with skills and welldesigned applications. Some industry statistics suggest that a highly-skilled application specialist can manually virtualize only between one and four applications a day.

The solution: Automate the virtualization process. Thankfully, new automation tools are becoming available to assist. These tools remove the lengthy manual steps and complex tuning activities out of the virtualization process. Automating the virtualization process happens with the aid of a hypervisor platform like Microsoft’s Hyper-V or

VMware’s Workstation or vSphere. Figure 2 shows a graphical representation of this integration: an automation tool works with your hypervisor platform and the out-of-the-box application installations you already have. An automated application virtualization process begins by starting a series of virtual machines. These virtual machines are controlled by the automation tool, which instructs each VM to launch an out-of-the-box application installation from storage. That installation is watched by the application virtualization tool, the results of which subsequently generate the virtual application. Postvirtualization application tuning is then automatically performed by the virtualization tool with the aid of predefined profiles. Repeat this process until all your applications are virtualized.

Automated application virtualization tool

Hypervisor platform

Application storage Figure 2. How an automated application virtualization solution integrates with other IT components

Share: 3

ChangeBASE does more than simply identify compatibility issues; it can also remediate those issues.

Using ChangeBASE to automate application virtualization

Left to run in the background, ChangeBASE can convert up to 100 applications in a single day.

Dell™ ChangeBASE has the widest breadth of application virtualization checks in the market today. ChangeBASE can automatically assess applications against one or all of the virtualization technologies available: Microsoft App-V, Symantec SWV, VMware ThinApp and Citrix XenApp Streaming Profiler. This can help to determine which virtualization technology will work best for your applications. But ChangeBASE does more than simply identify compatibility issues; it can also remediate those issues. ChangeBASE reports provide detailed descriptions of the issues detected, plus guidance

Share: 4

on how to fix them. At times, this can require fixing to accommodate multiple technologies and platforms all in one go. Moreover, where possible, ChangeBASE can automatically fix issues for you. In addition, ChangeBASE can automatically convert native applications into virtual formats. Its silent virtual installation automatically creates the required virtual format file from the native MSI. Left to run in the background, ChangeBASE can convert up to 100 applications in a single day, thereby helping organizations to overcome any skill gaps and resource shortages they may have. To learn more about ChangeBASE, visit www.quest.com/changebase.

For More Information © 2013 Dell, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This document contains proprietary information protected by copyright. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording for any purpose without the written permission of Dell, Inc. (“Dell”). Dell, Dell Software, the Dell Software logo and products—as identified in this document—are registered trademarks of Dell, Inc. in the U.S.A. and/or other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners. The information in this document is provided in connection with Dell products. No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual property right is granted by this document or in connection with the sale of Dell products. EXCEPT AS SET FORTH IN DELL’S TERMS AND CONDITIONS AS SPECIFIED IN THE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR THIS PRODUCT,

About Dell Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers worldwide innovative technology, business solutions and services they trust and value. For more information, visit www.dell.com.

If you have any questions regarding your potential use of this material, contact: Dell Software 5 Polaris Way Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 www.dell.com Refer to our Web site for regional and international office information.

Share: 5 Whitepaper-VirtualizationApplication-US-SW-2013-05-28

DELL ASSUMES NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER AND DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTY RELATING TO ITS PRODUCTS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL DELL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION OR LOSS OF INFORMATION) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS DOCUMENT, EVEN IF DELL HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. Dell makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this document and reserves the right to make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time without notice. Dell does not make any commitment to update the information contained in this document.