To effectively use the App-V Sequencer, you must understand how your applications are configured and deployed. The Sequencer prepares applications so the they are not tied to a particular computer or user. As the sequencing engineer, you may need to customize the sequencing process when an application uses non-standard techniques or it does not follow common best practices for application development. You may be required to know how to complete the following kinds of tasks:
Partition a hard disk or add an additional hard disk;
Install, back-up, and restore Windows operating systems;
Install applications;
Identify User-specific files;
Design and write scripts;
Read and edit the Windows Registry.
Effective sequencing also requires you to know how the intended user actually uses the application to be sequenced. This knowledge is important so the sequenced application will perform exactly as if it was locally installed. Therefore, you must know:
What the most common operations are that users perform after launching these applications(so you can reproduce these actions while sequencing to assure that these actions stream to the App-V Client);
What standalone applications are used in conjunction with each other so you can create packages to preserve their interaction?
What applications are used in conjunction with external databases, and whether Users have individual relationships to these databases; and
What applications are used in conjunction with external devices?
Sequencer Workstation Configuration
Proper configuration of the sequencing station is imperative to ensure that applications will function properly when streamed to a client. Microsoft recommends the following configuration when sequencing:
Sequence on a machine that is the lowest common denominator for the target clients.
If the target clients consist of Windows XP machines and Windows 2000 machines, Microsoft recommends sequencing on Windows 2000. Applications sequenced on Windows XP and executed on Windows 2000 will still have a high likelihood of functioning properly; however, the odds are better when sequencing on Windows 2000 and deploying to Windows XP.
If Microsoft Office is part of the base image of the client, then include it as part of the base image of the sequencer.
Many applications will install differently if they recognize that Microsoft Office is already installed on the machine. Thus, if an application is expected to integrate with Microsoft Office, its best to attempt sequencing on a machine with Office already installed and activated. This assumes that a Microsoft Office suite will be installed locally on all client PCs.
Create an ODBC DSN setting as part of the Sequencer base image.
If no ODBC DSN setting exists on the base Sequencer image and the application being packaged creates one, the entire registry key associated with ODBC settings will become virtualized. This will prohibit the packaged application from seeing any ODBC DSN settings that exist on the base client machine. If an ODBC entry already exists on the Sequencer machine, only the ODBC settings will become virtualized, and the ODBC settings on the Client will be merged with the ODBC settings in the package.
The following locations can be checked to determine ODBC information war captured:
Search for odbc.ini: It will be located in the VFS%CSIDL_WINDOWS% folder
