VMware App Volumes

VMware App Volumes Technical FAQ Now Available

By Gina Daly, Technical Writer for Technical Marketing, End-User Computing, VMware

The VMware App Volumes Technical FAQ has recently been published! As the title suggests, this FAQ deals with the meaty technical questions you may have concerning VMware App Volumes. Questions have been divided into sections including requirements and maximums, installation and configuration, storage, management, using App Volumes with Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH), and troubleshooting. The current FAQ pertains to App Volumes 2.7, and we are presently working on the latest App Volumes 2.9 updates.

To whet your appetite, here is a sample of the questions and answers included in this detailed FAQ.

Q. How does App Volumes handle conflicts? For example, a user has two AppStacks attached with the same application installed in each AppStack. Which application is available to the user?

A. If there is a conflict, the last AppStack attached is presented first. For example, <AppStack1> and <AppStack2> both contain Microsoft Word 2013. If <AppStack2> is attached last, its Microsoft Word application is presented to the user.

Important: Administrators should ensure that there are no application conflicts. If two versions of the same application are required, you can use VMware ThinApp packaging to isolate the two versions, which resolves these application conflicts.

Q. I have a slow drive infrastructure, and it takes time to initialize the 20 GB AppStack template for a new AppStack. Can I optimize this?

A. Yes. The default AppStack size is 20 GB. However, you can reduce the size by creating a new AppStack template. For details, see the Knowledge Base article Creating a new App Volumes AppStack template VMDK smaller than 20 GB.

Q. What are the Microsoft Office installation best practices?

A. It is recommended that you install Office core applications in the base virtual desktop image and create one AppStack for non-core Office applications, such as Visio, Project, or Visio and Project together. To provision the AppStack with Visio and Project, use a provisioning machine with the same Office core applications as on the base image. After the AppStack is created, you can then assign the AppStack only to users who require these non-core Office applications.

If you are hungry for more, check out the full FAQ: VMware App Volumes Technical FAQ.