Walking through the App-V 5.0 Beta Server Setup (Part 1)

The App-V 5.0 Beta Server is made up 3 components – Management Server, Publishing Server and the Management Database. The components are dependent but have varying requirements and actions to have them successfully deployed. The goal of this series of blog posts is to walk you through the process of deploying the App-V 5.0 Beta server in your environment.

This first post will discuss the things that you will need to do to be able to prepare your environment to do the deployments. The following posts will discuss the actual installation process and will review the process of deploying the server in a script.

Getting ready to deploy

There are 3 things you need to consider before deploying the App-V Server.

· Unsupported Scenarios: These are the scenarios where the deployments are not supported and could result in failures.

· Prerequisites: These are the pre-requisites that need to be present to ensure that the installation is able to successfully complete and the service is functional. These can vary from component to component.

· Deployment Preparations: These are items that you will need to get ready before launching the installation.

Unsupported Scenarios

The following deployment scenarios are currently not supported:

· Deployment on Windows Server Core

· Deployment on a machine which has previous versions of the App-V Server components deployed (e.g. App-V 4.5 Server)

· Deployment of the App-V Management Database to SQL Server Express edition

· Remotely deploying the Management Server Database. The installer must be run directly on the SQL server for the database install to succeed.

· Deployment on a machine configured as a domain controller.

Pre-requisites

The system pre-requisites - which are required for all the components – are as follows:

· Windows Server 2008 R2 or later

· Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Extended Version (Download https://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17718 )

o Note: If .Net 4.0 is not present on the machine, server setup currently will fail silently so if you run appv_server_setup.exe and nothing happens, check if .Net 4.0 is installed on the machine. For more details on how to check your machine for a .Net installation, refer to https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/kbarticle.aspx?id=318785 

· The account used to launch appv_server_setup.exe must have Administrative privileges on the targeted machine and must be able to query AD. If the Management Server Database component is selected, Database Admin (DBA) privileges are also needed.

In addition to the system pre-requisites, each component has certain prerequisites that need to be met before the installation will successfully complete.

Management Server / Publishing Server

· Windows Web Server with IIS Role added and configured with only the following features enabled:

o Common HTTP Features

§ Static Content

§ Default Document

o Application Development

§ ASP.Net

§ .Net Extensibility

§ ISAPI Extensions

§ ISAPI Filters

o Security

§ Windows Authentication

§ Request Filtering

· The following Windows Web Server features must be disabled:

o Common HTTP Features

§ WebDAV Publishing

o Security

§ Basic Authentication

· Disable “Anonymous Authentication” in the IIS Console.

· Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 (This must be installed/configured via the ‘Add Features Wizard’ in Server Manager)

o This is required in addition to the .Net 4.0 requirement called out above so as to support the App-V PowerShell module.

· Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Runtime Redistributable (Download https://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=15336)

o Note: This only applies to the App-V 5.0 Beta Management Server and is not required for the Publishing Server.

· Run the following command in an elevated command prompt. This has to be done in addition to the prerequisites detailed above

o Windows Server 2008 R2

dism /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:IIS-ApplicationDevelopment /FeatureName:IIS-ASPNET /FeatureName:IIS-CommonHttpFeatures ^

/FeatureName:IIS-DefaultDocument /FeatureName:IIS-DirectoryBrowsing /FeatureName:IIS-HealthAndDiagnostics /FeatureName:IIS-HttpCompressionStatic ^

/FeatureName:IIS-HttpErrors /FeatureName:IIS-HttpLogging /FeatureName:IIS-HttpTracing /FeatureName:IIS-ISAPIExtensions /FeatureName:IIS-ISAPIFilter ^

/FeatureName:IIS-LoggingLibraries /FeatureName:IIS-ManagementConsole /FeatureName:IIS-ManagementService /FeatureName:IIS-NetFxExtensibility ^

/FeatureName:IIS-Performance /FeatureName:IIS-RequestFiltering /FeatureName:IIS-RequestMonitor /FeatureName:IIS-Security /FeatureName:IIS-StaticContent ^

/FeatureName:IIS-WebServer /FeatureName:IIS-WebServerManagementTools /FeatureName:IIS-WebServerRole /FeatureName:IIS-WindowsAuthentication ^

/FeatureName:WAS-ConfigurationAPI /FeatureName:WAS-NetFxEnvironment /FeatureName:WAS-ProcessModel /FeatureName:WAS-WindowsActivationService

 

o Windows Server 2012

dism /Online /Enable-Feature /all /FeatureName:IIS-ApplicationDevelopment /FeatureName:IIS-ASPNET /FeatureName:IIS-ASPNET45 ^

/FeatureName:IIS-CommonHttpFeatures /FeatureName:IIS-DefaultDocument /FeatureName:IIS-DirectoryBrowsing /FeatureName:IIS-HealthAndDiagnostics ^

/FeatureName:IIS-HttpCompressionStatic /FeatureName:IIS-HttpErrors /FeatureName:IIS-HttpLogging /FeatureName:IIS-HttpTracing /FeatureName:IIS-ISAPIExtensions ^

/FeatureName:IIS-ISAPIFilter /FeatureName:IIS-LoggingLibraries /FeatureName:IIS-ManagementConsole /FeatureName:IIS-ManagementService /FeatureName:IIS-NetFxExtensibility ^

/FeatureName:IIS-NetFxExtensibility45 /FeatureName:IIS-Performance /FeatureName:IIS-RequestFiltering /FeatureName:IIS-RequestMonitor /FeatureName:IIS-Security ^

/FeatureName:IIS-StaticContent /FeatureName:IIS-WebServer /FeatureName:IIS-WebServerManagementTools /FeatureName:IIS-WebServerRole /FeatureName:IIS-WindowsAuthentication ^

/FeatureName:WAS-ConfigurationAPI /FeatureName:WAS-NetFxEnvironment /FeatureName:WAS-ProcessModel /FeatureName:WAS-WindowsActivationService

 

· Register ASP.NET (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions) - after IIS, .Net 3.5 and .Net 4.0 have been installed.

o 32-bit registration: c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis.exe -ir

o 64-bit registration: c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis.exe -ir

Management Server Database

· Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP2 or Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

o SQL Server has to be Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter edition

o “Database Engine Services” feature must be enabled

Deployment Preparations

The App-V server is supported in a single-server deployment and a distributed deployment. A single-server deployment has all the 3 components deployed on the same machine while a distributed deployment has each component installed on a different machine.

- Note, if you are doing a distributed deployment, you will need to plan to do the Management Server Database deployment first as the database information will be needed for the Management Server deployment.

The table below lists the set of information that you should have prepared when starting the deployments.

· Note this list assumes that each component is installed on a separate server.

Management Server	· Install location o By default this will be installed to %PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Application Virtualization Server · Location of the App-V Management Database o SQL Server Name o SQL Instance Name o Database Name · Access rights for the App-V Management Console o This is the user or the group that should be granted access to the management console at the end of the deployment. Post deployment, only these users will have access to the Management Console until additional administrators are added via the Management console. o Note: Global security groups and AD Distribution groups are not supported. Domain local or Universal groups are required for this. · App-V Management Service Website name o A name for the website is required, if you do not want to use the default · App-V Management Service Port Binding o This should be a unique port number that is currently not already used by another website on the machine. § Note: Install does not validate if the port is in use so this has to be confirmed prior to running install · Support for Silverlight o Silverlight is required for the Management Console to be accessible. While this is not a requirement for the deployment, the machine that will be used to access the App-V Management Console must be able to support Silverlight
Publishing Server	· Install location o By default this will be installed to %PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Application Virtualization Server · App-V Management Service URL o This is the URL of the App-V Management Service that this Publishing Server will be communicating with and should be of the format https://<ManagementServerName>:<ManagementPortNumber> · App-V Publishing Service Website name o A name for the website is required, if you do not want to use the default · App-V Publishing Service Port Binding o This should be a unique port number that is currently not already used by another website on the machine. § Note: Install does not validate if the port is in use so this has to be confirmed prior to running install
Management Database	· Install location o By default this will be installed to %PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Application Virtualization Server · Custom SQL Server instance name (if applicable) o Format should be “INSTANCENAME” as install assumes it is on the local machine. Entering it in the format of “SVR\INSTANCE” will fail. · Custom App-V Database Name(if applicable) o This has to be a unique database name. Install will block if a database with the provided name already exists. o Defaults to AppVManagement · App-V 5.0 Management Server Machine Account o The machine account for server on which the Management Server is deployed on or will be deployed on. This must be in the format of Domain\MachineAccount · App-V 5.0 Management Server Install admin o This is the account that will be used to install the App-V Management Server. This should be in the format of Domain\AdministratorLoginName

 

 

-Priya Ravichandran | Program Manager, Microsoft Application Virtualization

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Guys, You probaly have left out Database scripting part here. That should have ellaborated to a good extend too. For instance most of the admins are not aware whether the computer SID needs to be chip in manually while requesting a DBA to create a database along with the scripts.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  That should work fine, and in fact you can use many third party ESDs to deploy packages. Here's more info on that: technet.microsoft.com/.../jj713482.aspx.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Hi Anurag Juneja [MSFT]  and thanks for awesome article , but i have problem in Server 2012 ? when i want to register with this command : c:windowsmicrosoft.netframeworkv4.0.30319aspnet_regiis.exe -ir c:windowsmicrosoft.netframework64v4.0.30319aspnet_regiis.exe -ir it gives me error : .... this option is not supported on this version of operation system .administrators should instead install /unistall asp.net 4.5 with iis8 using "turn windows feature on/off" dialog,... ... what 's the problem ? Best Regards

• Anonymous
  May 08, 2012
  Seems there is something wrong with your post as the section under "Run the following command in an elevated command prompt. This has to be done in addition to the prerequisites detailed above o   Windows Server 2008 R2" appears to be missing information or is not formatted correctly. Am I just misreading it? Surely the following is not a command "dism /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:IIS-ApplicationDevelopment /FeatureName:IIS-ASPNET /FeatureName:IIS-CommonHttpFeatures ^"?

• Anonymous
  May 09, 2012
  Yes a few special characters seem to have creeped in.  Try these

Windows Server 2008 R2

dism /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:IIS-ApplicationDevelopment /FeatureName:IIS-ASPNET /FeatureName:IIS-CommonHttpFeatures /FeatureName:IIS-DefaultDocument /FeatureName:IIS-DirectoryBrowsing /FeatureName:IIS-HealthAndDiagnostics /FeatureName:IIS-HttpCompressionStatic  /FeatureName:IIS-HttpErrors /FeatureName:IIS-HttpLogging /FeatureName:IIS-HttpTracing /FeatureName:IIS-ISAPIExtensions /FeatureName:IIS-ISAPIFilter /FeatureName:IIS-LoggingLibraries /FeatureName:IIS-ManagementConsole /FeatureName:IIS-ManagementService /FeatureName:IIS-NetFxExtensibility /FeatureName:IIS-Performance /FeatureName:IIS-RequestFiltering /FeatureName:IIS-RequestMonitor /FeatureName:IIS-Security /FeatureName:IIS-StaticContent /FeatureName:IIS-WebServer /FeatureName:IIS-WebServerManagementTools /FeatureName:IIS-WebServerRole /FeatureName:IIS-WindowsAuthentication /FeatureName:WAS-ConfigurationAPI /FeatureName:WAS-NetFxEnvironment /FeatureName:WAS-ProcessModel /FeatureName:WAS-WindowsActivationService

Windows Server 2012

dism /Online /Enable-Feature /all /FeatureName:IIS-ApplicationDevelopment /FeatureName:IIS-ASPNET  /FeatureName:IIS-ASPNET45 /FeatureName:IIS-CommonHttpFeatures /FeatureName:IIS-DefaultDocument /FeatureName:IIS-DirectoryBrowsing /FeatureName:IIS-HealthAndDiagnostics /FeatureName:IIS-HttpCompressionStatic /FeatureName:IIS-HttpErrors /FeatureName:IIS-HttpLogging /FeatureName:IIS-HttpTracing /FeatureName:IIS-ISAPIExtensions /FeatureName:IIS-ISAPIFilter /FeatureName:IIS-LoggingLibraries /FeatureName:IIS-ManagementConsole /FeatureName:IIS-ManagementService /FeatureName:IIS-NetFxExtensibility /FeatureName:IIS-NetFxExtensibility45 /FeatureName:IIS-Performance /FeatureName:IIS-RequestFiltering /FeatureName:IIS-RequestMonitor /FeatureName:IIS-Security /FeatureName:IIS-StaticContent /FeatureName:IIS-WebServer /FeatureName:IIS-WebServerManagementTools /FeatureName:IIS-WebServerRole /FeatureName:IIS-WindowsAuthentication /FeatureName:WAS-ConfigurationAPI /FeatureName:WAS-NetFxEnvironment /FeatureName:WAS-ProcessModel /FeatureName:WAS-WindowsActivationService

• Anonymous
  May 10, 2012
  Stupid question from a newbie: Does Management Server "include" a publishing server as part of the install?  I interpret publishing server as a share that hosts the packages -so perhaps I would install a publishing server at each office location. If management server does not include it, can I install the publishing server on the same machine as the management server?

• Anonymous
  May 10, 2012
  Another question from a really green newbie: Could you publish a sequence/publish process of a simple application such as Acrobat Reader in App-v 5?  I could hugely benefit from a simple walk through.  I've been packaging msi/installshield applications for 10 years so I have some feel for the art or packaging but, this is a whole new ballgame!

• Anonymous
  May 11, 2012
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 14, 2012
  So much for my interpretation.  I suspect I found a bug because when I attempt to run the installer a second to (ad the publishing server), all items are greyed out.

• Anonymous
  May 16, 2012
  Try restarting IIS and then try the second install again. If it still doesn't install the publishing service then please upload all of the install logs (%TMP%appv_server_*.log) to the connect site. Thanks.

• Anonymous
  May 17, 2012
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 18, 2012
  Hi Brian, see if the below steps help. I would recommend reporting this issue on connect so we can help you out better. For the AD Group issue: you need to use the format domaingroup e.g. contosoappvusers. To add a publishing server to the client, you need to use PowerShell. See 'Add-AppvPublishingServer' in the guide. To verify your publishing server is working correctly, from the client access http://publishingserver:port. If this fails, do the same steps from the Publishing server itself. If that too fails, open the issue on connect :).

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2012
  By import package from console. he give this message: The pakkage at:\appvservercontentwinrarwinrar.appv could not be imported because the management server machine does not accees to the package. Please verify the pakage's file permissions so the server can access it.

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2012
  After Installation APP 5 Beta Server Application Virtualization Management Server service  is not displaying . By import package from console. he give this message: The pakkage at:\appvservercontentwinrarwinrar.appv could not be imported because the management server machine does not accees to the package. Please verify the pakage's file permissions so the server can access it.

• Anonymous
  June 05, 2012
  The Management Server machine account needs Read access to the share that the package is being imported from. If the share is on a remote machine, the machine account (domainmachinename$) will need read access to the share. If the share is local to the Management Server, the Network Service account will require read access to the share. Can you try this to see if this resolves the import issue?

• Anonymous
  July 23, 2012
  Regarding my previous post, this was because I had cloned the Server 2008 r2 image from an existing image which confused the Domain Controller because it had the same SID. All is good now. Thank you for the great instructions.

• Anonymous
  September 25, 2012
  I had the exact thing. The way that the app looks up domain information is strange. I looked at how it was always prompting me for DomainUser etc. So I did this: DomainMachineName$ - Also try DomainMachineName without the $ and push check. It found it and added it right away. 3 hrs of my life wasted. Hope that helps

• Anonymous
  December 07, 2012
  Can we publish AppV 5 packages through SCCM  2007