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Table Of Contents
Deploying Applications and System Updates with View Composer
Because linked-clone desktop pools share a base image, you can quickly deploy updates and patches by
updating the parent virtual machine.
The recompose feature allows you to make changes to the parent virtual machine, take a snapshot of the
new state, and push the new version of the image to all, or a subset of, users and desktops. You can use this
feature for the following tasks:
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Applying operating system and software patches and upgrades
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Applying service packs
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Adding applications
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Adding virtual devices
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Changing other virtual machine settings, such as available memory
You can create a View Composer persistent disk that contains user settings and other user-generated data.
This persistent disk is not affected by a recompose operation. When a linked clone is deleted, you can
preserve the user data. When an employee leaves the company, another employee can access the departing
employee's user data. A user who has multiple desktops can consolidate the user data on a single desktop.
If you want to disallow users from adding or removing software or changing settings, you can use the
refresh feature to bring the desktop back to its default values. This feature also reduces the size of linked
clones, which tend to grow over time.
Managing VMware ThinApp Applications in View Administrator
VMware ThinApp™ lets you package an application into a single file that runs in a virtualized application
sandbox. This strategy results in flexible, conflict-free application provisioning.
VMware ThinApp provides application virtualization by decoupling an application from the underlying
operating system and its libraries and framework and bundling the application into a single executable file
called an application package. You can use View Administrator to distribute VMware ThinApp applications
to desktops and pools.
IMPORTANT If, instead of distributing ThinApps by assigning them to desktops and pools, you would rather
assign ThinApps to Active Directory users and groups, you can use VMware Workspace.
After you create a virtualized application with VMware ThinApp, you can choose to either stream the
application from a shared file server or install the application on the virtual desktops. If you configure the
virtualized application for streaming, you must address the following architectural considerations:
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Access for specific user groups to specific application repositories, where the application package is
stored
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Storage configuration for the application repository
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Network traffic generated by streaming, which depends largely on the type of application
For streamed applications, users launch the applications by using a desktop shortcut.
If you assign a ThinApp package so that it is installed on a virtual desktop, the architectural considerations
are similar to those that you address when you use traditional MSI-based software provisioning. Storage
configuration for the application repository is a consideration both for streamed applications and for
ThinApp packages installed in remote desktops.
View Architecture Planning
38 VMware, Inc.