Introduction to the SoftGrid Application Virtualization Guide

Published: November 12, 2007   |   Updated: February 25, 2008

 

Application coexistence continues to be a significant issue for business customers. The task of managing the portfolio of applications in a company has remained a very complex process with few tools available to help reduce this burden. Some of the challenges when managing applications include accommodating multiple versions of the same application as well as updating application packages.

Microsoft SoftGrid enables organizations to respond to the challenge of managing applications by implementing application virtualization. The purpose of this guide is to present the infrastructure planning process for SoftGrid by providing a clear and concise workflow of the decisions and tasks required to plan for each method.

This guide, when used in conjunction with product documentation, will enable companies to confidently plan the SoftGrid 4.2 infrastructure. Although additional options and guidance will be available in SoftGrid 4.5, none of the planning or sequencing work done today will be wasted effort.

The appendix includes a sample job aid for recording the decisions made during the design process.

Assumptions

In writing this guide, the following assumptions were made in order to focus the scope of the material presented:

  • The decision to implement Microsoft SoftGrid has already been made.
  • This design is for use in a production environment. It is expected that a test environment will also be created to mirror the production environment in configuration.
  • The reader has familiarity with the Microsoft infrastructure such as the Microsoft Active Directory® directory service, Microsoft SQL Server™, Systems Management Server, and System Center Configuration Manager 2007. This guide does not attempt to educate the reader on the features and capabilities of these or other Microsoft products.

Feedback

Please direct questions and comments about this guide to satfdbk@microsoft.com.

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