Lab 05: Updating an existing App Volumes Package using the GUI method

Objective and Tasks

This lab will take you through the steps required to upgrade an App Volumes application. From the App Volumes admin console, identify the package to upgrade, target the packaging machine, and walk through the application upgrade process. This is followed by post-capture tasks: setting the CURRENT Marker to the newly upgraded Package. Since the Assignment already targets the CURRENT package version, when an assigned user logs on, they will get the package designated with the CURRENT marker.

  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

If you have the lab from the previous session, ignore all the steps under point-1 listed below. Else proceed to power ON the packaging machine by connecting to the vCenter-01 from the Chrome Browser, use the shortcut in the bookmark bar. Accept any notifications presented at the logon screen.

  1. Navigate to vCenter identify and Power ON the packaging machine
    • Log in to the ControlCenter VM
    • Username: administrator
    • Password: Pa$$w0rd
    • Open the Google Chrome browser from the desktop
    • Click on vCenter-01 link from the bookmark bar to connect to the vCenter https://vcenter01.omnissatraining.com
    • Login using the following credentials
    • Username: [email protected]
    • Password: Pa$$w0rd
  2. Within the vCenter web console, identify and Power ON the App Volumes packaging virtual machine
    • Navigate to vcenter01 > DC1 > Cluster1
    • Right-click on the appvolprov-01a VM

If you have successfully completed Lab 03, then follow the next steps, as the Appvolprov-01a VM has already been reverted to the 'av_agent' snapshot

  • From the menu, select Snapshots
  • Select on Revert to Latest Snapshot in the sub-menu
  • Ensure the snapshot reflects 'AV_Agent'
  • Uncheck the 'Suspend this VM when reverting to selected snapshot'
  • Click on the REVERT button
  • Right-click on the appvolprov-01a VM
  • Select Power > Power On
  • Go back to the Summary tab
  • 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. Log into the App Volumes Manager admin console
    • Open a second browser tab within Google Chrome
    • Select appvol-02a from the bookmark bar
    • Username: administrator
    • Password: Pa$$w0rd
    • Click login
  2. Locate the current Notepad++ Application and the Package version from the admin console, and initiate a package upgrade
    • Navigate to the INVENTORY > Applications tab
    • From the Applications list, Notepad++ is listed as 'np++'
    • Navigate to the INVENTORY > Packages tab
    • From the list of packages, the Notepad++ package is listed as 'np-8.9.1'
    • This represents the current version of Notepad++ at ver.8.9.1.
  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
    • 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

Log into the packaging machine from the vCenter01, validate and upgrade the existing package

  1. Connect to the Appvolprov-01a VM
    • Toggle to the vCenter browser tab
    • Click on the Launch Web Console button
  2. Initiate reboot of the Appvolprov-01a VM from the vCenter console
    • Click on the Restart option from the bottom right corner of the logon screen to reboot the VM
  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 Notepad++ Application
    • 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'

  • Upon completing the Notepad++ 8.9.6.2 installation
    • Uncheck the RUN Notepad++, click on the Finish button
Expand or collapse content Task 4: Confirm and close the app capture process
  1. 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
    • From the ControlCenter VM, launch a the File Explorer
    • Navigate to the App Volumes packages path: \\labfiler\appvolumes\Appvol02aS1\appvolumes
    • The packages folder will contain both the old and new package
    • The new package will be in both the VHD+MSI format along with the JSON metadata files
Expand or collapse content Task 5: Log in to a Horizon virtual desktop and validate the delivery of the App Volumes Package

On confirmation of  successful UAT testing of the newly updated package, validate the change in CURRENT marker to the newer version of the package logging in with Production Users

Students (1 to 5) are part of the Active Directory group AppVol_PRODUCTION_users

  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 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 package version of the application, log into a virtual desktop 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.
    • Close the Notepad++ application and log out of the Horizon Client

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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