VMware Horizon Community
TonySpeight
Contributor
Contributor

Best method of updating snapvol.cfg

We currently have an issue with our anti-virus were the agents aren't activating. It is recommended that we add a line to our snapvol.cfg

Unknown/Unreachable agent status in Deep Security Notifier - Link to our issue.

My question is what is the best way to update the snapvol.cfg for all of our app stacks?

1. Do we go into app volumes manager and click update on every one of them and update this way?

2. Do we mount the VMDK for the app stack onto a none App volumes machine and amend the file?

3. Does App Volumes manager have a magic button that will replace all app stacks with the new template files if we amended the template VMDK file?

TIA

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Ray_handels
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

2. Do we mount the VMDK for the app stack onto a none App volumes machine and amend the file?

No you can't because the appstack is read only, you cannot edit it after sealing the appstack

3. Does App Volumes manager have a magic button that will replace all app stacks with the new template files if we amended the template VMDK file?

No it doesn't. It does have an option to change a writable during login. If you are using writables and need to change that you cloud do it trough the manager.

1. Do we go into app volumes manager and click update on every one of them and update this way?

So that leaves option 1. Yes, you need to click update and edit the appstack then. I would suggest attaching the updated appstack (before sealing) to a machine that does not have an Appvolumes agent installed and change the snapvol.cfg. After that attach it to the packaging machine and seal it right away.

Also make sure to edit the template, this is read/write so just attach it to a machine without Appvolumes manager and edit the snapvol.cfg.

tbro
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Do you use writable volumes in your environment?

If so, you can use the update feature in the writable volume section, update the snapvol.cfg there and then you don't have to update the individual app stacks.

DrinkingTheKool
Contributor
Contributor

I realize this post is 5 months late but I wanted to share in case others come to this thread with the same question.

     2. Do we mount the VMDK for the app stack onto a none App volumes machine and amend the file?

Yes, mounting the VMDK for the appstack onto a non-App Volumes machine will work. The App Volumes Agent is what makes the appstack read only. Mounting an appstack VMDK to a VM without any App Volumes components makes it read/write like any other VMDK. After attaching the VMDK, you'll need to assign a drive letter so you can access the contents. This blog talks about modifying writable volumes but the instructions for getting to the snapvol.cfg file are the same for application volumes. Using the VMware App Volumes snapvol.cfg File to Customize Writable Volumes | VMware End-User Comput...

I know this method works as I used it myself a couple weeks back.

blue_calx
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I need to update the snapvol.cfg for some appstacks because we plan on rolling out FSLogix soon. When I try to attach any appstack VMDK to a non-app volumes VM, it won't let me and fails with a read-only error. Any thoughts?

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DrinkingTheKool
Contributor
Contributor

My first guess is that the appstack you're trying to modify is still attached to at least one other VM with the App Volumes agent on it. You'll need to have the appstack detached from everything before attaching it to the non-App Volumes VM.

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blue_calx
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

No it was not attached to anything. I can't even attach the app template vmdk.

This is app volumes 2.18

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Ray_handels
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

I need to update the snapvol.cfg for some appstacks because we plan on rolling out FSLogix soon. When I try to attach any appstack VMDK to a non-app volumes VM, it won't let me and fails with a read-only error. Any thoughts?

As said before, you cannot edit an appstack after it has been sealed. There is a marker that is being created that is called ddb.deletable=false which means you cannot delete the VDMK but also cannot attach it as read-write.

Regarding a writable you could try and change this VMDK setting in the ini file to change the value to true so you can change it. I would not suggest doing this for an appstack.

If you do want to update the snapvol.cfg on an appstack I would suggest updating the appstack, then attach the updates appstack to a machine without an Appvolumes agent and change the snapvol.cfg, it is read-write at that time. Then you can attach it to your packaging machine and seal it right away.

DrinkingTheKool
Contributor
Contributor

As said before, you cannot edit an appstack after it has been sealed. There is a marker that is being created that is called ddb.deletable=false which means you cannot delete the VDMK but also cannot attach it as read-write.

Not true. I updated the snapvol.cfg file on all my sealed appstacks (about 180 of them) without any problems by attaching them to a VM without the App Volumes agent. These instructions were provided to me by a VMware Horizon Technical Support Engineer.

At the end of the day, an appstack is just a VMDK file and is treated as such when the App Volumes agent is not present. The snapvol.cfg file on a sealed appstack starts with the statement "type=application." That statement is what tells the App Volumes agent that it cannot write to the disk.

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antonpaloka
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I came here to ask a similar question.

Should snapvol.cfg matter on application based appstacks? I always suspected the answer to be no, but I do see exclusions in the list.

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