Streaming... as default or some settings needed?

[MrBeatnik]

Hi folks.

We have recently had information that we should be using MSISTREAMINIG value to make sure our apps stream. We are told this will increase performance. For example, one application currently takes about 40 seconds after launch before the GUI appears; we are told this can be improved drastically with the MSISTREAMING value.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure of the requirements and have a few (simple) questions - can anyone assist?

1) If I set this MSISTREAMING=1, do I also need to provide an MSI with the package? We use Adminstudio 11.5's ACC (Auto Convertor) which outputs the ThinApp exe from the original MSI. Do I just place the original MSI in the package directory somewhere or is a special MSI required? Does anyone know if Adminstudio ACC can do this?

2) If our machines use thinreg to do various associations on login (so that file extensions can double click and launch the thinapp exe from the network location), what will the MSI do that is not already being done by this thinreg command?

3) We will have all thinapped exe's/dat's on network share, this is OK?

4) I have heard that streaming does not work outside of View (i.e. in a physical envronment). Is this true? Does it work natively inside View, or do we need to set up something specifically?

Really I thought that streaming happened natively for a thinapp exe...

Any advice would be very handy.

Thanks

[Pankaj11]

Hi

Yes, setting MSISTREAMING to 1 will help in the performance.

- The MSIStreaming parameter determines that whether .cab files should be used in the ThinApped MSI or not, and this can affect application performance.

- By default ThinApp sets an initial value of 0 for this parameter, and this basically leads to comp....cab file and makes it easier to move the file. The .cab file is in the ThinApped MSI file.

- But if this value is modified to 1, then we can avoid the .cab file mechanism (when it slows down the installation process for applications). But then it also means that you need the individual executable files in the /bin directory along with the ThinApped MSI file and to install the application.

>>1) If I set this MSISTREAMING=1, do I also need to provide an MSI with the package? We use Adminstudio 11.5's ACC (Auto Convertor) which outputs the ThinApp exe from the original MSI. Do I just place the original MSI in the package directory somewhere or is a special MSI required? Does anyone know if Adminstudio ACC can do this?

I think this is partially answered above. So, you need ThinApped MSI and also the individual exe files generated in the bin folder. I am not sure about Adminstudio ACC, but all you need to do to generate ThinApped MSI for an application, is that the MSI related parameters in the package.ini have to be enabled, if Adminstudio allows you to modify the parameters then you can definitley generate ThinApped MSIs through it.

>>2) If our machines use thinreg to do various associations on login (so that file extensions can double click and launch the thinapp exe from the network location), what will the MSI do that is not already being done by this thinreg command?

When you launch ThinApped MSI, it will copy the ThinApped exe/dat etc to the installation folder, and it does all the stuff that ThinReg does, also it helps in upgrading ThinApped applications using MSIUpgradeCode and MSIProductCode. So it is definitely more functionality wise.

>>3) We will have all thinapped exe's/dat's on network share, this is OK?

I think this should be OK, you can copy the ThinApped MSI file and exe/dat to a network share, and launch the MSI from there.

>>4) I have heard that streaming does not work outside of View (i.e. in a physical envronment). Is this true? Does it work natively inside View, or do we need to set up something specifically?

This might not be true, as ThinApp manual doesn't say this when explaing about MSIStreaming.

Thanks

[MrBeatnik]

Thanks for the reply Pankaj1...

I added the following lines to the package.ini BUILDOPTIONS section, and rebuit:

MSIFilename=mymsi.msi

MSIInstallDirectory=My Application

MSIStreaming=1

This build the MSI for me.

However, I am still confused!

1) If I now click on the MSI, the thinapp is copied down to the local machine as if it's been installed by the MSI. There are shortcuts to run the virtual package from the local machine, and file associations looks good. However, this test package is 1.5GB, meaning copying takes some time. This only makes launching slower as it has to copy down first. Some packages are bigger than 1.5GB (even with compression). I did not notice any real difference in launch speed when attempting to run this now locally installed app.

Besides, we will be using non-persistent pools, so this MSI would have to be installed each time, which seems a bit redundant. Perhaps I'm still missing the point here...

2) If I click directly on the EXE which still resides on the network share, I can't notice any performance gain from using the MSISTREAMING parameter. Should I?

So I'm still a bit confused on how the MSISTREAMING parameter can benefit me. It appears to have had no effect on direct launch of the EXE from the network drive, and doesn't seem to improve the EXE once it has been copied locally.

Thanks

[pbjork · Accepted solution]

1) If I set this MSISTREAMING=1, do I also need to provide an MSI with the package? We use Adminstudio 11.5's ACC (Auto Convertor) which outputs the ThinApp exe from the original MSI. Do I just place the original MSI in the package directory somewhere or is a special MSI required? Does anyone know if Adminstudio ACC can do this?

Answer:

The MSI is only needed for deployment but then both the MSI and the package files must be in the same folder. MSIStreaming=1 tells the build process to not embed the package files in the MSI. This allows for a couple things:

1. ThinApp entitlement in View Manager now allows for streaming deployment.

2. You can now edit the MSI file using Orca or any other MSI editing tool.

Other than that no real changes are made. It does not enhance performance of your packages! MSIStreaming do not change anything in the package. It only changes the format of the MSI file used for deployment. Double clicking on the MSI will still perform a local installation of the package, i.e. not stream the package. For streaming without View Manager entitlements you simply point your users to the packages on the share and you are done. Thinreg.exe is often used to help with entitlement in a streaming model.

Admin Studio requires the access to ThinApp utilities folder, i.e. the original ThinApp tools so anything ThinApp supports is possible with Admin studio. You might have to do it manually and sometimes outside of Admin studios GUI but it is still possible.

2) If our machines use thinreg to do various associations on login (so that file extensions can double click and launch the thinapp exe from the network location), what will the MSI do that is not already being done by this thinreg command?

Answer: The MSI is of no importance whatsoever in this case. MSI is only used to help your with deployment if you have not chosen another deployment method.

3) We will have all thinapped exe's/dat's on network share, this is OK?

Answer: Yes, it is called streaming deployment and is one of our supported and recommended methods.

4) I have heard that streaming does not work outside of View (i.e. in a physical envronment). Is this true? Does it work natively inside View, or do we need to set up something specifically?

Answer: This is absolutely not true. Whoever told you that have no clue about how ThinApp works. Streaming is very much supported to any Windows client physical or virtual. Terminal Servers is supported as well.

The reason your packages take time to launch is related to the package (how the package is created and configured) and your network performance. If all of your packages are slow, I would blame the environment. Make sure no antivirus is slowing down the performance with on-access scanning and that your network performs as it should.

For some common troubleshooting tricks to enhance launch time please have a look here: http://blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/2011/05/make-your-thinapp-packages-start-quicker.html