Best Practices

in Application Compatibility

Sai Kuricheti, Aparna Volety, Sandeep Nayak

Abstract

Application Compatibility and Readiness is one of the key challenges that

most organizations face when migrating to a new Operating Environment.

This document largely covers the Application Compatibility spectrum from a

Windows 7 Readiness perspective providing the Best Practices for remediating

Applications and provides an overview of the new technology innovations

introduced by Microsoft to help bridge the gaps.

Trademarked names may appear throughout this document. Rather than list the names and entities that own the trademarks or insert a trademark symbol with each mention of the trademarked name, the names are used only for editorial purposes and to the benefit of the trademark owner with no intention of infringing upon that trademark.

Sep 2009

2 | Infosys – White Paper

Table of Contents1 Introduction 3

2 Different Remediation Technologies now available 3

2.1 Application Compatibility Toolkit 3

2.2 Microsoft Application Virtualization 4

2.3 Terminal Server 4

2.4 Med-V 4

2.5 Recode/Upgrade Application 5

2.6 Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) 5

3 Application Compatibility Framework 5

3.1 Application inventory 7

3.2 Application Rationalization 7

3.3 Compatibility Testing and Remediation 8

3.4 Application Packaging and Virtualization 11

3.5 Application Packaging and Virtualization 12

4 Appendix 13

5 References 13

6 About the Authors 14

Infosys – White Paper | 3

1 IntroductionSystems have typically high and inflexible built in costs, regardless of changing business requirements. Growth and Rapid advances in technology have resulted in data-center and desktop platforms that can be overly complex, inflexible, and difficult to manage. Migrating to a new operating environment presents an opportunity to re-visit what is owned and provides a corridor for standardizing the infrastructure and reducing the Total Cost of Ownership.

This paper covers concepts in Application Compatibility from the perspective of Readiness for Windows 7 and attempts to cover many of the concepts and best practices to ensure readiness for Windows 7. Although Application Readiness is the primary goal of this document, it also attempts to cover aspects of application rationalization and standardization.

Application compatibility when moving to a newer operating environment has always been a challenge for all organizations. Most of the application incompatibilities arise due to:

• Change in the security model imposed by the new Operating System

• Adoption of newer Industry standards which invalidates older mechanisms

• More restrictions brought forward in the kernel to prevent unlawful attacks

• Restrictions in inter-process communication

Windows Vista brought forward a newer security model which introduced many of the changes mentioned above to make the OS a more secure and safe environment to work in. Many of the legacy applications that weren’t designed to follow this security model were the ones that failed. Windows 7 builds on many of the same features of Windows Vista and is plagued by many of the same issues.

The key to migrating all your applications to make them compatible with Windows 7 is to primarily understand all the new technology trends available that ease the compatibility efforts. The other important aspect is to ensure that the processes are in place to do it right so that this exercise is used as an opportunity of standardizing the environment and hence reducing overall costs. This document covers these major topics in the sections below.

2 Different Remediation Technologies now availableThis section discusses the different remediation technologies that are now available when moving towards Windows 7. These technologies are primarily available to reduce the efforts required to remediate incompatible applications. These however, do not provide a permanent fix for the application. As a permanent fix, it would be advisable to obtain the Windows 7 compatible applications from the vendors or if they in-house developed, re-engineer the application according to the new standards imposed by Windows 7.

2.1 Application Compatibility Toolkit

Assessing application compatibility has been a major obstacle to new operating system deployments in the past. For any Organization having several hundred and thousands of applications installed across a distributed network, performing an application compatibility testing is very time-consuming and costly task. Automated tools such as Application Compatibility Toolkit can reduce time, money and risk when performing a new Operating System Deployment. They identify, manage and mitigate the issues henceforth leading to a better deployment.

The Application Compatibility Toolkit comprises of a set of tools which can collect the list of applications that are present in an organization and intelligently draw inferences on application compatibility status of the applications with Windows 7. The Application Compatibility Administrator can provide Application compatibility fixes (popularly known as SHIMS), which can emulate the functionality of a legacy Operating System (XP, 2000) for a program to allow the application to run correctly under Windows 7. Shims which are also called as a compatibility fix, is a small piece of code that intercepts API calls from applications, transforming them so Windows7 will provide the same product support for the application as previous versions of the operating system.

The shims can be provided as hooks into the applications to provide an alternate functionality to a particular request. For eg: if an application has a hard coded path reference, then the hook can point that to an alternate location. This tool can solve basic issues such as when an application does version checking to see if the OS version is compatible, it can disable themes, ensure the application starts in a lower resolution and there are 331 other fixes that can be applied. Application Compatibility cannot be used to remediate Internet Explorer issues or applications that are device or service dependent. Other components of ACT are Standard User Analyzer (SUA) and Setup Analysis Tool (SAT).

4 | Infosys – White Paper

For detailed information on how to utilize the tool click on the URL: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/aa905066.aspx

2.2 Microsoft Application Virtualization

With application virtualization you can install multiple versions of an application on the same system. When an application has been virtualized it does not install anything on the host OS, it creates a self contained sandbox environment that can interact with the host OS components and applications. This technology does not fix applications that do not run on Windows 7. However, since it creates a virtual “bubble” from where the applications can be executed, it over-rides many of the inherent flaws in traditional applications that were designed to write to locations that they weren’t supposed to. This also presents a mechanism to allow multiple versions of an application to coexist together and hence can be evaluated for co-existence scenarios.

This type of technology works well if you need to run multiple version of Office, let’s say you have Office 2007 installed but there is a web based application that requires Excel 2003. With application virtualization, Excel 2003 can be virtualized and installed on the users system; the web based application will open up the spreadsheet in the virtualized version of Excel (Excel 2003). Click on the link below for additional information:http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/app-virtualization.aspx

The following type of applications cannot be virtualized with App-v

• Applications that are over 4GB in size when sequenced. By utilizing compression within the sequencer it’s possible to take applications that are larger than 4GB and get them below the limit.

• Applications that start services at boot time. App-V requires a logged in user to initiate the launch of an application.

• Applications that require device drivers. App-V cannot virtualize drivers. It is possible to bypass this issue and install the driver locally on the target computer. Some user-mode device drivers can be virtualized.

• Applications that are a part of the OS such as Internet Explorer.

• Applications that use COM+. Because COM+ is dynamic and happens at runtime there’s no way for the sequencer to capture this information.

• COM DLL surrogate virtualization. i.e. DLL’s that run in Dllhost.exe

2.3 Terminal Server

Terminal Services provides remote access to a desktop through “thin client” software, allowing the client computer to serve as a terminal emulator. Terminal Services transmits only the user interface of the program to the client. The client then returns keyboard and mouse clicks to be processed by the server. Each user logs on and sees only their individual session, which is managed transparently by the server operating system and is independent of any other client session. Client software can run on a number of client hardware devices, including computers and Windows-based terminals. Other devices, such as Macintosh computers or UNIX-based workstations, can use additional third-party software to connect to a server running Terminal Server.

RemoteApp programs are accessed remotely through Terminal Services and appear as if they are running on the end user’s local computer. Users can run RemoteApp programs side by side with their local programs. A user can minimize, maximize, and resize the program window, and can easily start multiple programs at the same time. If a user is running more than one RemoteApp program on the same terminal server, the RemoteApp programs will share the same Terminal Services session.http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/appv/terminalsvcs.mspx

2.4 Med-V

If a legacy application does not run on Windows 7 and requires an older OS, then the OS can be virtualized and deployed using Med-V. When an OS is virtualized it requires the same management as the host OS. Virus signature files, OS and application patches need to be deployed to ensure the system is not vulnerable, which can increase IT workload.

Infosys – White Paper | 5

Med-V advantages are:

• Centrally create, deploy, and update virtual PC images throughout the enterprise

• Provision virtual images and user policies according to business affiliation and requirements

• Accelerate the upgrade path to the new Operating environment and have a mechanism for legacy applications to continue to run in a virtual environment with a previous OS version

• Simplify IT integration of new subsidiaries by running two IT environments concurrently (i.e. the corporate one and the acquired company’s one)

• Access applications seamlessly on the host operating system (absolutely no “virtualized application experience” to the user)

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/med-v.aspx

An alternate to using MED-V is XP-Mode. For organizations that do not want to invest in an infrastructure to manage the legacy operating environments and want to have a simplistic mechanism of implementing the above, XP-Mode is a very good substitute. This is however, recommended only for applications that are in the transition phase and are targeted only for a small group of users. It is still recommended to use MED-V while managing larger user bases and complex applications as managing the virtual infrastructure becomes a challenge in XP-Mode.

2.5 Recode/Upgrade Application

If an application is not compatible with Windows 7 either upgrade to a newer version or re-engineer the application to make it Windows 7 compatible. This is always the preferred path.

2.6 Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is an alternative desktop delivery model that allows users to access desktops running in the datacenter. Unlike Terminal Services, each user gets access to their personal desktop from any authorized device, thereby improving desktop flexibility. IT departments can take advantage of all the benefits of centralization and centralized management of desktop workloads. VDI enables organizations to store and execute desktop workloads (OS, apps, data) on virtual machines in the datacenter, and presents the UI via a remote desktop protocol (such as RDP) to user.

VDI benefits specific users, and is not the solution for all desktop problems.

VDI requires constant connectivity to the network and cannot be used for mobile workers. Additionally, current VDI technology does not provide an optimum user experience for remote users, especially for multimedia intensive applications. For connected standard workers, VDI may prove to be cost-prohibitive when compared to the rich desktop, and therefore may not be the preferred solution. Microsoft recommends that organizations profile their users to determine the optimal desktop solution. VDI has shown to benefit non-mobile users in large enterprises that have sophisticated IT departments, for example contractors, offsite workers, telecommuters and specific office scenarios that require desktop location independence.

Although VDI can be a complex and costly investment, Microsoft’s VDI solution provides a comprehensive technology platform at a very competitive price.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/technologies/vdi.aspx

3 Application Compatibility Framework

The Infosys Application Compatibility Framework (ACF) is part of the Infosys’ Catalytic IT Solution suite that helps assess and move IT infrastructure from one level of maturity to another. The main objectives of the Application Compatibility Framework are:

• Reduced Costs for application readiness

• Higher Quality

• Faster Remediation

• High-Quality Support

6 | Infosys – White Paper

The Application Compatibility Framework defines a process for migrating all the applications to the target environment. This starts with a discovery or inventory gathering of the applications in the enterprise, followed by a rationalization exercise to eliminate duplicates and legacy applications that are no longer managed. Only the finalized set of applications are then subject to the Compatibility Testing process and are readied for Windows 7. The diagram below provides a brief overview of our approach and describes the different considerations that need to be made while readying applications for Windows 7.

Figure 1 - Application Readiness - Infosys Approach

The ACF process employs a 5 stage process from collecting the inventory to remediating the application for Windows 7 and packaging it according to the best practice recommendations and industry standards. The 5 stage process can be pictorially depicted as follows:

Compatibility Testing And Remediation

• Application walkthrough to understand the application.

• Validate the raw media and the install instructions provided.

• Use the ACT 5.5/ChangeBase AOK to test the applica�on for compatibility on Windows 7.

• Perform standard tests like install/un-install, GUI etc.

• Assess the incompatibilities of the application.

• Identify the changes required in the new environment.

• Define and standardize migration process.

• Remediate or re-engineer applications

Application Packaging

/Virtualization as required

Deploy & Support

• Obtain packaging /virtualization requests with source media, install instructions and configuration details

• Package applications using standards agreed by customer

• Virtualize applica�ons using the agreed standards

• Manually test applica�ons using the checklist

• Document all the applica�on details along with discrepancies if any

• Test applications for basic functionality, installation, uninstallation and repair operations

• Obtain sign-off on delivered applications

• Deploy applica�ons to end user desktops, laptops, tablets

• Test the applications on the new environment.

• Conduct user acceptance testing and sign-off.

• Finalize the applications for packaging.

• Support for packaged applications

• Ongoing maintenance of packages

• Gather applica�on Inventory using the existing inventory tool

• Gather the infrastructure Inventory of Domains, Servers, Desktops,

• Understand the application spread.

• Preparation on initial assessment report.

Appli ac tionInventory

• Identify distinct applications including versions.

• Filter and remove the unwanted applications.

• Categorize the applications.

• Gather functionality and licensing details of all applica�ons

• Deliver the final list of rationalized applications

Application Rationalization

Figure 2 - Application Compatibility Framework

Infosys – White Paper | 7

3.1 Application inventory

One of the most significant challenges we have seen with organizations is that they do not know what is owned and if they have oversubscribed to available licenses. The rationalization exercise acts like a good mechanism for organizations to inventory what is owned, eliminate duplicates, identify what applications are to be retained and manage licenses more effectively in the target environment.

This inventory can be captured via one of the following methods:

1. Microsoft ACT 5.5 offers a Data Collection Package that can be deployed to all machines in the infrastructure to capture what is installed. This will be then registered with the central ACT repository.

2. Infosys tools like InMaculate can be used to capture the inventory of all the machines. These tools offer a lot of flexibility in how they can be executed (via log on scripts, AD GPO, Application pushes, etc.) and will allow the creation of a centralized report to capture the inventory.

3. Enterprise Inventory tools: If the organization has already invested in an enterprise inventory tool, this can be leverage to capture the inventory and generate the necessary reports to start the rationalization exercise.

4. In some organizations, there are dedicated application owners for all the applications. In these cases, it may make more sense to adopt the use of an “Application Discovery Questionnaire” to identify the details about the application and build on the repository.

3.2 Application Rationalization

This task involves the careful review of all existing applications, re-consider if they need to be deployed in the new environment and determine if it would make more sense to adopt a cheaper alternative. Some of the major tasks completed in this task are:

• Eliminate multiple versions of an application and retain only the latest version that is compatible with Windows 7

• Rationalize all applications by eliminating duplicate applications offering similar capabilities

• Identify the critical applications and discard applications that are no longer used in the enterprise

• Create a “Keep, Drop, Discard” list for the applications. Review to see if there are applications that need to be retained for the new environment

• Review the license requirements for the retained list and submit a request to re-order licenses.

Figure 3 - Application Rationalization

8 | Infosys – White Paper

3.3 Compatibility Testing and Remediation

This phase involves setting up a test environment and testing all the rationalized applications for their compatibility with Windows 7. To reduce time and efforts involved for compatibility testing and remediation, it is normally recommended to utilize a 3 part approach:

1. Mission Critical Applications: Tier-1 applications are usually very important and most organizations prefer a thorough manual approach for testing. These applications can use a mixture of “Standard User Analyser” based tests and manual tests to deeply diagnose the applications.

2. Business Critical Applications: Tier-2 and 3 applications that cover basically Office productivity applications and software tools that are required for the day-to-day tasks. These applications can be tested using the tools available with ACT (SUA, DCP packages) as well as some limited manual testing.

3. Other Applications: Tier-4 and 5 applications that cover tools and utilities are not considered that critical for normal operations and hence can be tested via one of the following mechanisms:

a. Automated testing tools (Apptitude, Changebase AOK, etc.)

b. ACT Community Synchronizations to confirm compatibility and give an indication of issues and their fixes.

c. Infosys tools to determine issues in the applications based on the constitution of the application

The Remediation approach for incompatible applications would then differ based on whether they are home-grown custom applications, COTS products or web based applications.

Infosys – White Paper | 9

The entire process can be summarized via the following diagram:

Figure 4 - Application Compatibility and Remediation Approach

10 | Infosys – White Paper

The automated process of compatibility testing and remediation using Microsoft ACT can be pictorially explained as follows:

Figure 5 – Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit

Infosys – White Paper | 11

Applications that are not compatible with Windows 7 can be subjected to some form of remediation in order to make them work on the target environment. The diagram below highlights some of the best practice approaches to be used while selecting the remediation approach:

Figure 6 - Remediation Approach

3.4 Application Packaging and Virtualization

Packaging is an important step in the Readiness of applications. The introduction of a new operating environment will bring forth new standards and new security policies and it would make it imperative for all application installs to strictly adhere to these new standards. The packaging approach used by Infosys is summarized below:

Pre -Packaging Repackaging

Conflict Analyzing\Validation

2 3

Testing

4

• Identify the application for package

• Validation of Application Install Instructions & Raw Media

• Validation of application Test cases

• Setup Capture• Customization of the

package as per request

• Incorporate Repackaging standards, best practices

• Import application into conflict database

• Detect for conflict between one or more packages

• Generate Conflict Report

• Solve Conflict Issues• Validation of ICE

errors and warnings• Fix Critical ICE

warnings/Errors

• Quality Check• Peer Review• Install/Un-Install

Testing• Splash Screen Testing• Functionality testing if

the environment and the test cases are provided

1

PhasesA

ctivitiesD

eliverables

• Identified application package

• Validated ADQ and raw media

• Technical Review Document

• Base package with Package standards

• Validation Result File• Final MSI

• Final MSI for submission to UAT

• Peer Review Reports• Package Result

Document

UAT

DEPLOYMENT

Figure 7 - Application Packaging Approach

12 | Infosys – White Paper

3.5 Application Packaging and Virtualization

Packaging is an important step in the Readiness of applications. The introduction of a new operating environment will bring forth new standards and new security policies and it would make it imperative for all application installs to strictly adhere to these new standards. The packaging approach used by Infosys is summarized below:

Pre -Packaging Repackaging

Conflict Analyzing\Validation

2 3

Testing

4

• Identify the application for package

• Validation of Application Install Instructions & Raw Media

• Validation of application Test cases

• Setup Capture• Customization of the

package as per request

• Incorporate Repackaging standards, best practices

• Import application into conflict database

• Detect for conflict between one or more packages

• Generate Conflict Report

• Solve Conflict Issues• Validation of ICE

errors and warnings• Fix Critical ICE

warnings/Errors

• Quality Check• Peer Review• Install/Un-Install

Testing• Splash Screen Testing• Functionality testing if

the environment and the test cases are provided

1

PhasesA

ctivitiesD

eliverables

• Identified application package

• Validated ADQ and raw media

• Technical Review Document

• Base package with Package standards

• Validation Result File• Final MSI

• Final MSI for submission to UAT

• Peer Review Reports• Package Result

Document

UAT

DEPLOYMENT

Figure 8 - Application Packaging Approach

With the release of Application Virtualization, many enterprises are opting to adopt this technology. This is largely because it provides an isolation of the application from the other components and hence can be used for packaging applications that can potentially cause issues with other applications. It also finds lot of use when multiple versions of an application must co-exist. The approach that Infosys uses for this is summarized below:

•Test the application for feasibility for Virtualization using the standard set of criteria’s.

•Application Snapshot

•Post Install Customizations• Internal quality

check •Package

creation•Peer review by

sequencer

• Import the application via the App-V management console

•Provision the Application to a test user for testing

•Quality Check•Peer review•Splash Screen Testing

•Functionality testing against the test cases.

Activities

Deliverables

•List of applications for Virtualization is finalized

•Sequenced Package is ready.

•Provisioned application is ready for testing

•Final package submission to UAT

VirtualizationFeasibility

Test

Sequencing ApplicationManagement Testing

PhasesPre -

Sequencing

•Validation of Application Discovery Questionnaire (ADQ) & raw media.

•Setting up the Sequencing and Testing lab

•Validated ACF and raw media

•Lab setup

Figure 9 - Application Virtualization Approach

Infosys – White Paper | 13

4 Appendix

Acronym Description

ACA Application Compatibility Administrator

ACT Application Compatibility Toolkit

AD Active Directory

ADMT Active Directory Migration Toolkit

APPV Application Virtualization

CSF Critical Success Factors

DISM Deployment Image Servicing and Management

IE Internet Explorer

ITIL Information Technology Infrastructure Library

MDOP Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack

MDT Microsoft Deployment Toolkit

MEDV Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization

MOF Microsoft Operations Framework

MSF Microsoft Solutions Framework

OS Operating System

PMO Program Managers Office

POC Proof Of Concept

SCCM System Center Configuration Manager

SLA Service Level Agreement

SME Subject Matter Expert

SOE Standard Operating Environment

SP Service Pack

SUA Standard User Analyzer

UI User Interface

USMT User State Migration Toolkit

VHD Virtual Hard Disk

WAIK Windows Automated Installation Kit

ZTI Zero Touch Installation

5 References

Infosys internal articles and research materials.

Microsoft TechNet: www.technet.com

6 About the Authors

Sandeep Nayak is a Technical Consultant with Infosys. He has over 7 years of experience in the IT Infrastructure domain, both in consulting and implementation. His areas of expertise include IT Infrastructure Design, Technology Migration, Process Design and Solution Architecture.

Sai Kuricheti is an Associate Consultant with Infosys. He has over 4 years of experience in the IT Infrastructure domain. His areas of expertise include Windows Vista, Win7, Application Compatibility and Packaging. He has been involved in several projects in designing, implementing and supporting the infrastructure.

Aparna Volety is an Associate Consultant with Infosys. She has over 4 years of experience in the IT Infrastructure domain. Her areas of expertise include IT Infrastructure Implementation and Support. She has executed several projects in Application Packaging, Compatibility testing and Windows Migration.