Presentation to EDUCAUSE, NERCOMP by David Blezzard from University of New Hampshire. More here http://www.educause.edu/nercomp-annual-conference/2016/2016/streamlining-application-deployment-and-management-through-virtualization We will report how using the Application Jukebox application virtualization solution at the University of New Hampshire has saved time and simplified management of public and department-specific computer labs and our VDI environment. Traditionally, we used a combination of imaging and then various scripted deployments to install applications. With application virtualization, we have been able to move over a hundred Windows applications into virtual packages that can be "installed" by users on demand. We will discuss the general problem of managing large numbers of complex applications across a range of computer environments while also trying to be flexible and responsive to users. Outcomes: Understand how application virtualization can overcome issues with deploying software * Appreciate the capabilities of Application Jukebox to be able to assess its utility to your campus * Obtain a model for evaluating a tool's potential savings

1. ©
2016
University
of
New
Hampshire.
All
rights
reserved.
Academic Technology
Streamlining Application
Deployment and Management
through Virtualization
David
Blezard
NERCOMP
Annual
Conference
3/22/2016

2. Academic Technology
Why you should stay…
• Understand how application virtualization can
overcome issues with deploying software
• Learn our system for evaluating a new tool’s
potential benefits
• Appreciate the capabilities of Application
Jukebox to be able to assess its utility to your
campus

3. Some
Generic
Business

4. Some
Design
Company

5. Pharma/BioTech

6. Some
Engineering
Firm

7. College
Computer
Lab
155
Titles
Our
Job
is
Hard!

8. Academic Technology
About UNH
• 12,840 undergrads and 2,100 grads
• 3 campuses - focusing on Durham
• About 740 total workstations across 47 labs and
33 instructor stations
• 490 Dells
• 99 dual-boot Macs
• 10Gb network backbone with 100Mb and 1Gb
to the desktop

9. Academic Technology
So How DID We Do It?
• Monolithic image w/ 100+ applications
• Require faculty to submit software requests 4
weeks before semester starts (yeah, right…)
• Total image size >90 GB
• Cheat by installing some things to a network
volume (not easy!)
• Scripts, hacks, and running around to deploy
things mid-semester
• Potentially long delays at boot to install apps

10. Academic Technology
What is Application Virtualization?
File System Registry
Install
Application
FilesConfigConfigFiles

11. Academic Technology
What is Application Virtualization?
Abstraction
File System Registry
Virtualize
Application
Files Config
ConfigFiles

12. Academic Technology
What is Application Virtualization?
Abstraction
File System Registry
Run
Application
Files Config
ConfigFiles
Files Config
Application
Library
ConfigFiles

13. Academic Technology
Is it Worth It?
• That depends…
• How do I know???
• Evaluation with objective criteria is key
• Reduce costs
• Increase flexibility
• Prevent incidents and problems
• Et al.

14. Academic Technology
VMware Mirage
• “VMware Mirage is a next-generation desktop
image management solution for physical desktops”
• “Manage your desktop image as a set of logical
layers owned by either IT or the end user. Update IT-
managed layers while maintaining end-user files
and personalization. Easily deploy applications to
any collection of end users with application layering
technology. Quickly restore the system layers to fix
any issues without overwriting user layers.”
https://www.vmware.com/products/horizon-­‐mirage/features.html

15. Academic Technology
Evaluating Mirage
• Overall ease of use
• Effectiveness of the tool
• Time required to use the tool vs. time saved in
current management practices

16. Academic Technology
Evaluating Mirage
• Overall ease of use
• Effectiveness of the tool
• Time required to use the tool vs. time saved in
current management practices
• Layering works
• Can customize different locations
• Updates in the background
• Users get notified to reboot
• Long time to ingest each machine
• Longer time to deploy than current image

18. Academic Technology
Application Jukebox
Cloudpaging
1950’s 2010’s
Less
M
ore

19. Academic Technology
Cloudpaging
• Application virtualization solution from
Numecent
• Resold and supported in the education market
by Software2
• Claims to virtualize ALL Windows applications
• Fonts
• Services
• Drivers
• Server-based delivery, on-demand

20. Academic Technology
Evaluating App Jukebox
• Cost savings - >$20 per computer
• Increased flexibility and agility
• Low end-user impact

21. Academic Technology
Evaluating App Jukebox
• Cost savings - >$20 per computer
• Increased flexibility and agility
• Low end-user impact
• 25+% reduction in imaging time
• Less re-work and update time
$22 per
computer
• Simple mid-semester deployments
• Applications separate from OS
• Slow first launch, but good caching
• Simultaneous launch no slower than single
computer (Test w/ SPSS in 30-seat classroom)

22. Academic Technology
Deploying Application Jukebox
• Evaluation completed by June 2014
• Transitioned servers from POC to production
• Started packaging applications in June
• 100+ applications done by August
• Stripped down Windows 7 64-bit OS setup
imaged to computers in late August
• Continued packaging and deploying remaining
applications as needed through October

23. Academic Technology
Demos
Please
make
appropriate
sacrifices
to
the
demo
gods…

24. Academic Technology
Infrastructure
• All virtual servers
• Separation of roles allows for ease of scaling
MS
SQL
Database
Repository
License
ServiceApplication
Portal
Paging
Servers
Configuration
&
License
Data
App
Sets
Windows
Clients
Studio
Workstation

25. Academic Technology
Cloudpaging Layers
• Layer 1
• assets are installed to the local storage permanently
• Layer 2
• assets are installed to the local storage
• assets are tracked and can be removed by the abstraction layer
• Layer 3
• “normal”setting
• assets are installed within the abstraction layer
• assets are visible to the OS and other apps
• Layer 4
• assets are installed within the abstraction layer
• assets are not visible to the OS and other apps

26. Academic Technology
Issues
• Split Active Directory environment
• License counting
• Applications with VERY large Registry footprints

27. Academic Technology
Pluses
• VDI-based systems
• 90+% of application packages moved from
Windows 7 physical to Windows 7 VDI
• Nearly instant deployment
• Deployments require 1 shortcut to get to the
local computer
• Windows 10
• Anticipating that we can reuse many application
packages on Win 10 with no changes

28. Academic Technology
Acknowledgements
• Tony DiTulio - system administrator
• Chris Pycko - testing, packaging, lots of work
• Jerry Marceau - keeping everything else
working
• Software2 - Marcus, Brian, Tony, Nick