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NSITPS
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sandbox on network share - advice

Hi

I am looking for advice on placing the sandbox on a network share (netapp cifs) for a VMware View Non Persistent Floating environment. I am looking to keep the sandbox out of the user profile (roaming) and I also do not want to re direct %APPDATA% which I believe can cause issues with packages if the sandbox is left at the default location.

Any advice, issues, considerations for placing the sandbox on a network share would be welcomed.

Regards

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pbjork
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Somethings that comes to my mind..

1. Please understand that your network will be a part of your overall application performance. If your network is good this should not be an issue.

2. Make sure you verify your Sandbox sizes. You should make sure your packages creates the smallest possible Sandbox.

3. You should have no antivirus on access scanning on the location.

4. The network should be unique per user (like the users home folder)

5. AppLinking sometimes creates large .merge files in the parent package's sandbox. Make sure to investigate this. The size of the merge file is the amount that will have to be downloaded/uploaded every launch of the parent package.

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pbjork
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Somethings that comes to my mind..

1. Please understand that your network will be a part of your overall application performance. If your network is good this should not be an issue.

2. Make sure you verify your Sandbox sizes. You should make sure your packages creates the smallest possible Sandbox.

3. You should have no antivirus on access scanning on the location.

4. The network should be unique per user (like the users home folder)

5. AppLinking sometimes creates large .merge files in the parent package's sandbox. Make sure to investigate this. The size of the merge file is the amount that will have to be downloaded/uploaded every launch of the parent package.

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NSITPS
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Great points, thanks.

My other thought is to use dedicated assignment with a 2GB persistent disk (UDD) and store the sandbox here, much cleaner approach but I lose the flexibility of the floating assignment of desktops…

Do you have any idea of what others are doing with the sandbox in a View environment like the one I describe? I can’t seem to locate much detail when searching the web for similar setup.

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NSITPS
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Also, I have read about issues with packages when %APPDATA% has been re redirected and the sandbox is locted within the default location. Have you came across these issues before?

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oliAH
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As long as you network is good you shouldn't have any issue. If you are thinking about a network sandbox, you should consider streaming your apps. You'll be able to perform Side-by-Side updates which are way more convenient and easy in case everything is streamed.

You have a lot of enterprise or legacy apps that don't store data on local drive, typically client-side app. To avoid the sandbox growing, you can flush it at the exit by uncommenting the following line in the package.ini:

RemoveSandboxOnExit=1

Even though network sandbox increases the network traffic and the load on the filer, having a network sandbox brings some benefits:

- keeping everything centralized

- keeping track of users sandbox size

- troubleshooting (update went wrong, sandbox locked, user doesn't find his document, etc.)

- if deployed both on virtual and physical, the user will keep his application preferences

Also note that even if you have a network sandbox, the unregister scripts for the apps will still be stored in "%APPDATA%\Thinstall\Unregister".

I set up one time a network sandbox for a customer with a NetApp filer. They are running streamed thinapps and network sandbox since one year without any issue.

In case you have roaming profiles and think it'll slow down user authentication, Persona Management provides policies to enhance performance.

See the View Administration guide regarding ThinApp sandbox folders:

Configuring User Profiles to Include ThinApp Sandbox Folders

Blog: http://oliah.net >> Twitter: @olivier_ahson
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pbjork
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Many customers are using a roaming profile tool. I'm in the middle of putting together either a blog post or a KB article about how to use ThinApp in a non persistent floating pool scenario. When published I'll post an update.

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NSITPS
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Thanks for this.

I have read that persona management has issues with netapp cifs.. ie, some folders not re directed, data within re directed folders not showing up within the re directed location etc etc...??

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NSITPS
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Hi Peter

How long until you publish? Is it possible to take a look at what you have so far?

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pbjork
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Sorry for taking so long getting back to you.. Yesterday my KB article was published: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2045513

It discuss ThinApp in a non-persistent desktop environment.

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NSITPS
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Thanks Peter, the blog is very very useful.. I have a few questions if possible.

In your blog you discuss UsrClass.* not being roamed by default, however the behaviour can be changed with policy changes to View Persona. Do you know if these files can be roamed with standard Microsoft roaming profiles with modification to some policy?

Also, apart from the issues you mention at the beginning of this post (my question) have you came across any issues with packages which experience problems when the sandbox is located on a network share?

Lastly, if I stream from the network, register with thinreg and locate the sandbox on the network I should also be roaming the UsrClass files when using no persistent floating desktops?

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pbjork
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Hi..

1. I don't know if Microsoft native roaming can roam any part of the local profile.. I don't think so but I do not really know..

2. If the network is not perfect I've seen issues having the sandbox on a network share. One possible workaround can be to use

DisableTransactionRegistry=1 in package.ini. Please note this is not a general recommendation, just something that might solve your issue with one or a couple of your packages.

3. Yes, non-persistent desktops will always loose important registration information if UsrClass.* is not roamed.

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