Branchcache, remote VAS and recording application launch

[benschop]

Hello Guys,

I seem to remember that whenever the user launches an application the App-V Management Server will log that launch to the SQL Datastore. The limitation in the App-V is that the launch and shutdown (for application usage reporting to senior IT management) will only work if the user launches and shutdowns an application against a management server.

Taking that into account, I have three question when supporting remote branches and having their launch and shutdown information recorded into the datastore
1 If remote branch uses local Streaming Server (with configured ASR on the client); Will this still create a record of app launch and shutdown?
2 if using branchcache at the remote location (leaving client configuration in tact); Will this create a record of app launch and shutdown?

3 What's the difference between specifying ASR and having a separate value of the %SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER% per branch? Example
branch 1 has %SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER% set up to branch1server.domain.local and branch 2 has %SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER% set up to branch2server.domain.local
Publishing server and DC server is still main App-V server. Both branch servers have only a streaming server

Thanks for your input guys.

[aaronparker]

If in each case if you are using a Management Server (i.e. have specified a Management Server as a publishing server in the App-V client) then application launches and shutdowns will be logged. How the client actually streams the SFT file should be irrelevant.

Full details of the publishing and interaction process is documented in this white paper - App-V Application Publishing and Client Interaction: http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... ction.docx

As for ApplicationSourceRoot vs. %SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER%, these are essentially the same thing, so set one or the other. ApplicationSourceRoot is more flexible as you can change protocols and paths dynamically (so you can use GP to change this value based on AD site for example) where as SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER will require a restart of the App-V client or the client computer for a change to take effect.

[seq_tim]

Just to be clear...

ASR will override the server name in the OSD.

[benschop]

Aware of ASR changing OSD server name.

If client is "redirected" either through %SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER% or ASR setting to a streaming server (Streaming model, local to branch) launches will not be recorded? Nor will license enforcement?

and

If client is "redirected" either through %SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER% or ASR to an App-V Management Server (Full Infrastructure model, local to branch) then launches will be recorded and license management will be enforced.

Is this a correct interpretation?

Thanks

[seq_tim]

I have to answer in a way that is different than the questions to keep from being misleading.

The use of a named server in the OSD, a variable in the OSD, or the use of ASR in a client registry, are simply three different ways to direct the client to a server when an applicaion is launched. If ASR is present, it trumps whatever is in the OSD, variable or not.

When a user attempts to launch an application and the client is directed to a streaming server rather than the full management server, the launch is executed without the possibility of added licensing enforcement. Of course publishing only made the app available to authorized users anyway, but you are asking about licensing because you wanted more.

That the launch occurred (including start/stop times and result/return code by the app) is stored at the client in an XML file stored in an obscure area. The next time the client performs an application refresh operation using RTSP/RTSPS with the full management server, those results will be uploaded over the RTSP/RTSPS channel and recorded in the database for reporting purposes. This mechanism also improved the reporting for notebook clients that run apps offline (prior to 4.5 offline reporting was not recorded).

So with streaming server, that is as good as it gets. If a remote site uses App-V 4.6 clients on only Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 servers, then skipping the streaming server and using Windows Branch Cache becomes a possibility. The remote site clients get the full features, but the bulk sft/osd/ico transfers will get cached to reduce bandwidth (and latency) while authentication/authorization traffic will go all the way back to the main site server.