The signature scanner supports application virtualization by discovering the virtual application images, for example, a ThinApp executable or App-V .sft file, available on the agent machines.
In the MDB, virtual application images are associated with software releases and patches that the image is known to contain. This information is used to provide a full inventory of both the virtual application images and virtual applications contained within them.
Because the creation of virtual application images is performed by the end user, the CA Content team cannot provide software definitions for recognizing virtual application images. Therefore, the DSM administrator must create these virtual application image definitions. This process is automatic when a virtual application package is being registered with the software delivery library. Recognition information for virtual application image definitions can also be automatically discovered when manually creating a custom definition.
Association of a virtual application image with its contents is an important task that must be performed manually. When a virtual application image definition is created, it is placed in an unsealed state, and the content of the image is undefined. The DSM administrator must associate the image with the regular releases that it is known to contain by copying and pasting from the existing CA provided or custom-created software definitions. Wherever possible, a CA provided software definition should be used, as this will allow you to query for instances of a particular application regardless of the installation type.
Once the known software has been associated with the virtual application image, the image definition can be sealed. This action instantly updates the software inventory to reflect the new association between image and releases. Any computer with a discovered instance of the image will now also display the discovered virtual releases in its inventory.
The virtual application image definition can be unsealed again if the contents needs to be modified. When unsealed, the existing associations between image and releases remain active until the image definition is re-sealed or the changes are discarded.
Example - Using ThinApp to Create a Virtual Application Image and Software Definition
The DSM administrator uses ThinApp to create a virtual application image of Microsoft Office.
If the virtual application is to be deployed using CA ITCM's software delivery functionality, the Virtual Application Package Registration Wizard is used. (For more information about this wizard, see the Software Delivery section of the DSM Explorer Help.)
After registration, the administrator is prompted to create a virtual application image definition. If the software delivery library is not used, the administrator could use the Create New Virtual Application Image Definition dialog to register the virtual application image. (For more information about this dialog, see the Software Definitions section of the DSM Explorer Help.)
The DSM administrator chooses a suitable name for the image definition, such as “Microsoft-TA."
Next, the administrator browses the Software Definitions tree node to find the CA provided definitions for Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and so on. Using copy-and-paste, these existing release definitions are associated with the newly created virtual application image definition. Once all of the known contents have been associated with the virtual application image definition, the DSM administrator seals the image.
The software inventory for a machine with the package provisioned would now contain a staged virtual application image of “Microsoft-TA,” and standalone virtual releases of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and so on. The virtual releases are special instances of existing releases that can be queried and reported on alongside regular instances of the same applications.
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