In part 1 I showed you the application packaging process using a snapshot package. But now what? To be able to use the package you need two other elements installed and configured.

The Altiris SVS Streaming Server and the Altiris SVS client.

The first step is to install and configure the Streaming Server. The installation is very straight forward and requires very little intervention.

The SVS Streaming server was installed using the default Progress database instance, but you can also configure it to point to another existing database server. SVS will also install an Apache instance to run the console.

Once the installation has completed open the Altiris SVS console, you will be prompted for a username and password. The initial default is Admin with a blank password. You will be prompted for some additional information to finish the setup configuration.

There are a lot of settings and configuration items you can make in the console, but for now I am not concerned with them.

Add the applications

Adding applications to the Altiris SVS console is very straight forward. In the console towards the bottom of the page click the Packages menu item. Then click add packages, browse to where you saved your application package and upload it to the server. Your server will require approximately three times the size of the package in free disk space.

After it finishes all you need to do is provision the application for users or groups. Select either user or user group and choose who you want to have access to the application. This process is simple and lets you select objects from Active Directory.

That is all you really need to do allocate applications to users.

Altiris Client

The last step is to install the Altiris client on the workstations. There are also a couple of plugins that help to integrate the user with the Streaming server.

In this example I did not install the desktop Login Hook plugin.

All you need to do is:

• Install the Altiris client
• Go to the website address of the Altiris Streaming Server
• Run an application

The application will then start and cache down as you use it. The first logon is relatively slow as it begins the caching process, but after that it runs really well.

Wrap It Up

I was not sure what the Altiris SVS Professional product would be like. Overall the product is fairly easy to use and does a pretty good job as well. The Web interface is a little colorless.

The profiling options are a little confusing at first. For more complex application packages involving more than one application require a snapshot package.

The run time performance is good, a little faster than Citrix Application streaming. The automatic creation of a Mail Profile control panel application is a good touch as well.

Altiris SVS handles services a little better than the other products I have reviewed so far. Altiris SVS has the ability handle services and device drivers by tagging them as being installed outside the streamed package.

Overall a very easy process.