Lab 04: Updating an existing App Volumes Package using the GUI method

Objective and Tasks

Upgrade an existing App Volumes application package, set the upgraded version as current, and validate application delivery through a Horizon RDS Farm.

  1. Preparing the packaging machine for capture, to upgrade an existing package
  2. Identify the Application and existing Package, initiate a Package Upgrade
  3. Packaging Machine: Upgrading the Package
  4. Confirm success, carry out post capture configuration from the App Volumes admin console
  5. Validate application is assigned and accessible with a Horizon RDS farm and the delivery experience of Apps on Demand
Expand or collapse content Task 1: Prepare the packaging machine for capture

Identify the App Volumes packaging virtual machine 'APPVOLPROV-01A' from vCenter, prepare it for the 'appcapture.exe' tool and initiate a update of the existing version of Notepad++ to a newer version.

  1. Navigate to vCenter identify and Power ON the packaging machine
    • Go to the vCenter tab within the Google Chrome browser
  2. Within the vCenter web console, identify and Power ON the App Volumes packaging virtual machine
    • Navigate to vcenter01 > DC1 > Cluster1
    • Locate and select the appvolprov-01a VM
  3. Initiate a Snapshot revert to the packaging machine last known good state, to start a fresh app capture
    • From the menu, navigate to the Snapshots tab
    • Click on Revert
    • Confirm by clicking on the Revert button
    • Ensure the snapshot reflects 'AV_Agent'
  1. Right-click on the appvolprov-01a VM
    • Select Power > Power On
    • Go back to the Summary tab
  2. Click on the 'LAUNCH WEB CONSOLE' button to open the virtual machine in a separate browser tab.
  3. When the OS reaches the Windows login screen, do not log into the machine. Target this packaging machine in the App Volumes Manager, then reboot the packaging machine to initialize and kick-start the packaging process
  • Once at the login screen (Do not log in to the VM, till the new App Volumes Application and Package have been created in the next task)
Expand or collapse content Task 2: Identify the Application and existing Package, initiate a Package upgrade

From the App Volumes admin console, look for Notepad++, identify the package version, initiate an upgrade of package. This creates a copy of the existing package, which can be attached to the packaging machine for upgrade.

  1. Navigate through browser tab to go to the App Volumes Manager admin console
  2. Locate the current Notepad++ Application and the Package version from the admin console, and initiate a package upgrade
    • Navigate to the INVENTORY > Packages tab
  3. This lab will focus on upgrading the existing Notepad++ version 8.9.1 to 8.9.6.2.
    • Expand the package 'np-8.9.1'
    • Select the UPDATE button
  4. Provide the details of the upgrade version
    • Change the Name to np-8-9-6-2
    • Keep the remain settings as default
    • Click on the UPDATE button
    • And provide confirmation by clicking on the UPDATE button
  5. At the INVENTORY Packages tab, refresh the list, by clicking the refresh icon next to the "Show 10" drop-down list.
    • Observe the np-8-9-6-2 package change its Status from Creating to Unpackaged
  1. With the new package ready to capture an application, associate the capture-ready package with the App Volumes packaging VM.
    • Expand the package np-8-9-6-2
    • Click on the PACKAGE button
    • Type and search for APPVOLPROV-01A
    • Select the radio button next to the Status 'Available'
    • Click on the PACKAGE button
    • Confirm by clicking on START PACKAGING
    • The second stage of the Package is now shown under the Status tab Packaging

Keep an eye out at the top right corner of the App Volumes Manager admin console screen. For App Volumes environments configured to use VHD In-Guest mode machine manager configuration, the Packaging VM will need an additional reboot after you click on START PACKAGING in the above step.

Expand or collapse content Task 3: Packaging Machine: Upgrading the Package

Reboot packaging machine, initiate the App Volumes package capture process.

  1. Navigate to the Appvolprov-01a VM tab on the browser
  2. Initiate reboot of the Appvolprov-01a VM from the vCenter console
    • Click on the Power button and choose the Restart option
  1. Once rebooted, log into the Appvolprov-01a VM and start the packaging process
    • Username: administrator
    • Password: Pa$$w0rd
      • Wait for the "Packaging..." notification to pop up on the bottom right of the screen.
  2. Confirm existing Notepad++ 8.9.1 is mounted, then initiate the upgrade
    • Wait for the application to virtualize and the existing Notepad++ desktop icon to appear on the Desktop
      • Do not launch the old Notepad++ application from the desktop

We plan to install a specific version of Notepad++ and not let the auto-updater update Notepad++ to its latest version. We have a specific version that is stored in the software repo that will be used to install and upgrade the current Notepad++.

  1. Install the newer version of the Notepad++ Application from the software repo
    • Open the File Explorer, navigate to the software repository '\\Labfiler\resources\software\N++'
    • Run the Notepad++ installer
    • Double click and launch the Notepad++ application  'np.8.9.6.2.Installer.x64.exe'
      • Accept all the default settings except the last setting.
    • Before you click on the final Install button, check the box to 'Create a Shortcut on the Desktop'.

To deliver an App Volumes Package using the Apps On-Demand method, the installed application should be configured with a 'Desktop Icon' or be listed in the 'Start Menu'

  1. Upon completing the Notepad++ 8.9.6.2 installation
    • Uncheck the RUN Notepad++, click on the Finish button

For this demo, we will manually disable the Notepad++ updater program.

In production, the application update should be controlled by the organization's App life-cycle process and not automatically initiated by the application updater.

  1. Manually disable the Notepad++ updater program (GUP.exe)
    • Go to the folder location 'C:\Program Files\Notepad++\updater'
    • Rename the file 'GUP.exe' to 'GUP.exe.old', confirm the file rename, and close the file explorer

Once in the C:\Program Files\Notepad++\updater folder, enable the 'File name extensions' to find be able to rename the GUP.exe to GUP.exe.old

Expand or collapse content Task 4: Confirm and close the app capture process
  1. Close the File Explorer and return to the packaging machine desktop
  2. Now close the App Volumes capture process walking through the instructions provided by the App Volumes Agent notification screen.
    • Click on OK, to the 'Omnissa App Volumes - Packaging in progress' pop-up window in the bottom right corner
    • Click on OK
    • Click on Yes
    • Confirm the version listing: 8.9.6.2

The 'View Package Report' provided an HTML version of the files/folders/registry entries captured during the packaging process. This can be exported before closing the capture process.

  • Click on the Finalize button
  • Click OK to restart the machine
  1. On reboot, log into the packaging machine with the same user/password
    • Username: administrator
    • Password: Pa$$w0rd
    • Await the workflow process to confirm the package creation process success
    • On confirmation, click on OK
    • Shutdown the virtual machine from within the OS, clicking on Start Button > Power button > Shutdown
  2. Go to the vCenter tab and revert the snapshot to 'av_agent'
    • On the vCenter
    • Click on the appvolprov-01a vm
    • Go to the Snapshots tab
    • Select the 'av_agent' snapshot
    • Click on the REVERT button
    • Confirm REVERT
    • The confirmation is displayed at the bottom of the browser screen, under 'Recent Tasks.'
  3. Validate the status of the new package in the App Volumes Admin UI
    • Navigate to  the Inventory > Packages view
    • Find the newly created Notepad++ version 8.9.6.2 package
    • Listed as Status = Enabled, ready and awaiting assignment
  1. Validate the status of the new VHD and MSI packages created and stored in the App Volumes SMB Share
    • Minimize the browser, and from the ControlCenter VM, launch a the File Explorer
    • Navigate to the App Volumes packages path: \\labfiler\appvolumes\Appvol02aS1\appvolumes
    • Got to the packages folder, it will contain both the old and new packages
    • The new package will be in both the VHD+MSI format along with the JSON metadata files
Expand or collapse content Task 5: Launch a RDS hosted application, delivered by App Volumes

Configure App Volumes package marker settings, set desired target package and configure it with the SET CURRENT marker state. Login to Horizon delivered RDS application pool and launch the application delivered from App Volumes.

  1. With successful test results, change the CURRENT marker from the package np-8-9-1 to the newly updated np-8-9-6-2
    • Go to the browser tab for the App Volumes Manager admin UI, click the INVENTORY > Packages
    • Expand the np-8-9-6-2 package
    • Click the SET CURRENT button on the right pane
    • Confirm SET CURRENT
    • Validate the change of the CURRENT marker from np-8-9-1 to np-8-9-6-2

As the Notepad++ Application already has an AD Group assigned to receive the CURRENT marker package version of the application, log in and launch the Notepad++ application from the Horizon Client using any user from the 'Horizon-Students' AD Group.

  1. Validate the attachment state of the Notepad++ package in the App Volumes Manager admin console
    • Check the Attachments state by navigating to the Inventory > Attachments
    • Observe no attachments listed for the user Student1
  2. Connect to a Horizon 8 using the Horizon Client
    • Minimize the browser and any applications open within the ControlCenter VM
    • From the Desktop, double-click and launch the Omnissa Horizon Client
  3. The Horizon Client is already configured to connect to Horizon 8
    • Double-click on the horizon-02a.omnissatraining.com connection icon within the Horizon Client
    • Authenticate using username: Student1
    • Password: Pa$$w0rd
    • Click Login
    • You should be connected and have the following:
      • A virtual desktop pool: Win11-Site2
      • An RDS native application NotepadS2
      • The App Volumes delivered Notepad++(AV) application
  4. Launch the Notepad++(AV) application and validate the attachment state
    • From the Horizon Client , click on Notepad++(AV) to launch the application
  5. Finally, validate the Package Attachment in the App Volume admin console
    • From the ControlCenter, log back into the App Volumes Admin console
    • Navigate to the Inventory > Attachments tab
    • Validate that the Package/Volume 'np-8-9-6-2' corresponding to Application ' Notepad++' is reporting as attached to the target RDS Host.
  1. Close the Notepad++ application and log out of the Horizon Client

Observe the instant change at launch from one version of Notepad++ to another, controlled via App Volumes Markers based assignments.

This concludes this lab to upgrade an application by updating the existing package, resulting in a second package with a newer version of the application.

Followed by validating a successful Apps on Demand based upgrade and delivery of Notepad++ to a Horizon managed RDS farm.

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