Workflow of App Volumes Deployment on Azure

This workflow topic has information about how to use Azure Marketplace to deploy an Azure virtual machine image with App Volumes Manager already installed and partially configured. Additionally, this topic also has information about how to install App Volumes agent and deliver applications using Azure Virtual Desktop.

As an administrator, you must perform the rest of the configuration using the App Volumes Manager admin UI.

The resources which can be automatically deployed as part of Azure Marketplace are as follows: Azure virtual machine, public IP address, Azure virtual network, Azure storage and file share, Azure private endpoint, and network security group. For more information about these resources, see Resources used in App Volumes Deployment on Azure.

Note: Public IP address and Azure storage and file share are deployed only if you have opted for the automatic provision of these resources.

The rest of the components required is as follows: resource group, subnet, network interface, Azure virtual desktop host pool, and App Volumes agent.

At the end of the deployment, to create and manage applications and packages, you can use App Volumes workflows as described in the App Volumes documentation.

Note: When using any of the Microsoft applications in the procedure described in this task, see the relevant Microsoft documentation. However, ensure that you follow specific configurations required for deploying App Volumes on Azure.

Upgrade App Volumes Deployment

If you want to upgrade the deployment, perform these steps:

1. Log into the virtual machine where App Volumes Manager is previously installed and upgrade to the current version of App Volumes Manager.

2. Log into the capture virtual machine where App Volumes agent is previously installed and upgrade to the current version of App Volumes agent.

3. When creating an Azure Virtual Desktop, it is recommended to create a new image with the current version of App Volumes agent.

   In the Procedure section on this page, perform all the steps as mentioned for deploying the captured applications to users as an application group.

Prerequisites

• Ensure that you are aware of the requirements necessary for deploying App Volumes on Azure.

  For more information about these requirements, see Preparing for App Volumes Deployment on Azure.

• If you want to use an existing virtual network when configuring the basic details for deploying App Volumes using Azure Marketplace, ensure that you have created a virtual network which can be used in the Azure subscription.

  When deploying App Volumes in the Azure Marketplace, the same virtual network is required so that other components in the Azure infrastructure such as virtual machines (active directory domain services and App Volumes Manager) and file share can communicate with each other.

  It is recommended that all virtual machines reside in the same region as the virtual network.

  For information about how to create a virtual network, see the corresponding Microsoft documentation.

Procedure

1. In the Microsoft Azure portal, click Marketplace.

2. Search for the App Volumes: Apps on Demand offer.

3. Click the offer.

4. Follow the prompts.

5. Click Create.

6. In the Create App Volumes window, create a virtual machine that runs Windows:

   1. In the Basics tab, enter the following:

      Fields	Values
      Project Details	To manage deployed resources, select the Subscription and Resource group. Alternately, you can also create a new resource group.
      Instance details	Enter the Region. Enter the name of the virtual machine. To remote desktop into the App Volumes Manager virtual machine, enter the credentials (user name and password) for the local administrator. Optional: Change the default size of the virtual machine as per the options provided. By default, a new public IP address is created. Alternately, you can also select any existing IP address for the virtual machine. Note: If you do not want to use a public IP address for the App Volumes Manager virtual machine, select None. Depending on the public IP address created previously, you can create a DNS prefix for the public IP address. If you choose to access the App Volumes Manager admin UI in a browser using a public IP address, then you can keep the DNS name handy.
      Configure virtual networks	By default, a new virtual network and a corresponding subnet are created. Alternately, you can select an existing virtual network and the corresponding subnet.

   2. Click Next.

   3. In the App Volumes configuration tab, select the desired database:

      Options	Steps
      Local SQL Server Express Database	This is the default option. No further action required. Note: It is not recommended to use this option for production environment.
      Remote SQL Server database	Enter the Database connection details as follows: Enter the Host name. Enter the Database Name. Enter the Username and Password of the user account used to access the Remote SQL Server database. Optional: If you have the relevant certificate to validate the SSL connection to SQL server, select the Enable SQL Server certificate validation checkbox. By default, this checkbox is selected. Note: If you do not have a relevant certficate to validate the SSL connection to SQL server, then clear the Enable SQL Server certification validation checkbox. To upload SQL Server certificate, click the folder icon and browse to a local directory where the CA certificate is present. Select the file and click Open.

   4. Configure the File Share details section:

      The following options are presented:

      • If you want the Azure Marketplace offer to automatically provision storage with file shares, then perform the following:

        1. Select Create new storage.

           This is the default option.

        2. Depending on your requirement:

           Option	Procedure
           Leave the Integrate with private DNS zone check box blank	The Azure Marketplace offer uses the IP address of the private endpoint as the file share address. This is the default option.
           Select the Integrate with private DNS zone check box	As prerequisites, ensure that the following is configured: Create a private DNS zone with the instance name as privatelink.file.corewindows.net. In the private DNS zone, add the virtual network of the domain controller as the virtual network link. Adding the virtual network as the virtual network link ensures successful name resolution of the file storage account to the IP address of the private endpoint. Select an existing Private DNS Zone.

      • If you want to use an existing storage, then select Use existing storage.

        After the Azure Marketplace offer is deployed, you must manually configure the storage in App Volumes Manager admin UI using existing file shares.

        The procedure to configure the storage is described further ahead in this workflow.

   5. Click Next.

   6. In the Tags tab, create the desired tags.

   7. Click Review + Create.

   8. To start the deployment, click Create.

   Depending on the options you have chosen in the previous steps, the App Volumes Azure Marketplace offer deploys all or some of the resources: Azure virtual machine, public IP address, virtual network, Azure storage and file share, private endpoint, and network security group.

7. Navigate to the App Volumes Manager admin UI.

8. To configure Active Directory in App Volumes Manager, see the Configuring and Using Active Directory section in the Omnissa App Volumes 4 Administration Guide at Omnissa Product Documentation.

   Note: For successful Active Directory Domain registration, ensure that the virtual network of the virtual machine which has App Volumes Manager installed is peered with the virtual network of the domain controller.

9. To assign built-in or custom roles to Active Directory groups in App Volumes Manager, see the Assign a Role to an Active Directory Group section in the Omnissa App Volumes 4 Administration Guide.

   For more information about built-in roles and custom roles, see the Managing Admin Roles section in the Omnissa App Volumes 4 Administration Guide.

10. If you have skipped the automatic storage provisioning in the deployment wizard, then you must manually add the file share to App Volumes Manager using the admin UI.

    Depending on whether the existing file share is on-prem Active Directory domain joined or non-domain joined, follow these prerequisites:

    Note: The following domain-joined Active Directory file share configurations are not supported:

    • Azure AD DS authentication
    • Azure AD Kerberos for hybrid identities
    • AD Kerberos authentication for Linux clients

    Option	Prerequisite
    Non-domain joined file share	Ensure that you have the following information as these credentials are required when adding the file share in App Volumes Manager admin UI: Storage account name of your Azure storage account. Storage Account Access key 1 or Storage Account Access key 2 in the Access keys page of your Azure storage account.
    On-prem domain-joined Active Directory file share	In your Azure subscription, ensure that you have already completed the required configuration to enable the on-prem AD DS authentication and authorization: Enable AD DS authentication for Azure file shares. Assign share-level permissions. Assign directory/file-level permissions. Mount file share.

    1. Navigate to CONFIGURATION > Machine Managers.

    2. Click Register Machine Manager.

    3. Select Machine Manager Type as [VHD] In-Guest Services.

    4. Click Next.

    5. On the CONFIGURATION > Storage page, click Add File Share.

       1. In the Add File Share page, search for the file share location.

          Note:

          When adding the file share path, modify the file share URL to a path which can be understood by Windows.

          For example: Modify the file share URL https://<storage_account_name>.file.core.windows.net/file_share_name to the following path \\<storage_account_name>.file.core.windows.net\file_share_name.

       2. If the existing file share is a non-domain joined file share, then enter the following information:

          • In the Username field, enter the Storage account name.
          • In the Password or Storage key field, enter the Storage Account Access key 1 or Storage Account Access key 2. Note: If the existing file share is an on-prem domain-joined Active Directory, then you do not need to enter these credentials.

       3. Expand the name of the file share and click Add.

       4. In the Confirm Add screen, select Add.

       5. Click Next.

       6. In the CONFIGURATION > Storage page, select the Default Storage Location for packages and Writable Volumes.

       7. In the Confirm Storage Settings window, choose when you want to import the volumes:

          • Import volumes in the background - App Volumes Manager dispatches a background job to import the volume and the display goes back to the App Volumes Manager console immediately.
          • Import volumes immediately - App Volumes Manager waits for the import to be completed and the console is not responsive until either the process is complete or 10 minutes have elapsed.

    6. In the Upload Templates page, you can perform one of the actions:

       • If you are fine with the templates that are uploaded to the storage account then click Skip.
       • If you want to upload your own templates, then see the Upload Templates section in the Omnissa App Volumes 4 Administration Guide.

    7. In the Settings page, click Save.

    8. (Optional) You can either import an existing application or create an application right away or later after completing the entire workflow.

       • If you already have .vhd application packages, you can upload them to your Azure file shares. In the App Volumes Manager admin UI, on the Applications page, click Import to bring them into the Inventory tab.

         If you have chosen the automatic provisioning of the storage account and file shares, then ensure that you have an understanding of this resource. For more information, see the Azure Storage and Azure File Share section at Resources used in App Volumes Deployment on Azure.

         For more information about importing application packages, see the Import an Application to App Volumes section.

       • To create an application, see the Create an Application section in the Omnissa App Volumes 4 Administration Guide.

11. Capture applications which must be delivered to an end user.

    1. Create a capture virtual machine.

    2. Install App Volumes agent on the capture virtual machine.

    For the install procedure, see Install App Volumes Agent section in the Omnissa App Volumes 4 Installation Guide at Omnissa Product Documentation.

    To capture applications on the virtual machine, see Package an Application in the Omnissa App Volumes 4 Administration Guide.

12. Deploy the captured applications to users as an application group.

    As a prerequisite, ensure that you configure the following when creating a host pool:

    • Select Preferred app group type as Remote App (RAIL).

    • Select Host pool type as Pooled.

    1. Create a virtual machine for App Volumes agent.

       Note: Ensure that you use a multi-session image to create the virtual machine.

       To deploy App Volumes in Azure, App Volumes agent must be installed in a virtual machine created in the Azure platform. This virtual machine must use the virtual network created and reside in the same region as the virtual network.

    2. To return to a clean snapshot whenever required, take a snapshot of the virtual machine.

    3. Customize the virtual machine by installing App Volumes agent.

       For the install procedure, see install App Volumes agent.

    4. Take another snapshot of this virtual machine.

       This step ensures that we have the snapshot of the golden image.

    5. Run Sysprep.

    6. Shut down the App Volumes agent virtual machine and capture this state as an image.

    7. Using the image captured in an earlier step, create an Azure Virtual Desktop.

       Make a note of the host pool created during this step. This information is required when creating an application group.

    8. Create and configure an application group.

       Note: If you are upgrading the App Volumes deployment, then you can continue using your existing application group in the newly created host pool.

       1. Navigate to Host pool > Application groups.

       2. Click the desired application group.

       3. In the Application group page, click Applications (manage).

       4. In the Applications listing page, click Add.

          In the Add application page, configure the following information:

          Note:

          For configuring application properties such as application name, icon path, and command line, navigate to the application's details page in the App Volumes Manager admin UI and use the values displayed in the App Links table. This table is also present in the package details page for every package.

          For information about the App Links table, see the Launch an App Volumes Application with an App Link section in the Omnissa App Volumes 4 Administration Guide.

          1. Enter the Application source as File path.

          2. Enter the Application path as

             C:\Program Files\Omnissa\AppVolumes\Agent\svservice.exe

          3. Enter the Application name.

          4. (Optional) Enter the Display name.

          5. Enter the Icon path.

             Icon paths are required because application icons are not present on the session host virtual machine where App Volumes agent is installed. App Volumes generates an App Link for an application and the App Link includes the icon path as well.

             App Volumes agent ensures that the icon of the latest, imported package is delivered to the end user. However if a package is set with the CURRENT marker, then the icon of this package takes precedence.

          6. Enter the Icon index value as 0.

          7. (Optional) Enter the Description.

          8. For Required command line, select Yes.

          9. In the Command line text box, enter the following commands: app run {application_guid} <exe_path> <arguments>.

             For example: app run {77bf2642-6f23-4baf-af8a-cc882884c721} "C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe"

             For more information about the svservice app run command, see the Command-line Delivery of Applications in App Volumes section in the Omnissa App Volumes 4 Administration Guide at Omnissa Product Documentation.

          10. Click Save.

    9. Assign the application to a user in the App Volumes Manager console and assign the application group to the same user in the Azure portal.

       Note: When assigning the application to a user, ensure that you select the Do not deliver for these assignments at startup or login option. Selecting this option is necessary so that you can use the command-line option (app run), mentioned in one of the previous steps, to deliver applications real time.

       For more information about assigning an application, see Assign an App Volumes Application to an Entity section in the Omnissa App Volumes 4 Administration Guide at Omnissa Product Documentation.

    An end user can use the https://client.wvd.microsoft.com/arm/webclient/index.html to log into the web client and run the application.

What to do next

To deliver and manage applications, you can start using App Volumes. For entire supported workflow tasks, see the Omnissa App Volumes 4 Administration Guide at Omnissa Product Documentation.