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7.1
B
EST PRACTICES FOR SNAPSHOTTING
The following practices are recommended for optimal use of the snapshotting feature.
7.1.1
Machine configuration
•
Perform snapshotting on a clean machine: Snapshotting on a clean machine assures that
all dependencies will be installed by the application setup. Installing on a machine with
existing components may cause dependencies to be inadvertently included in the "before"
snapshot and therefore excluded from the final virtual application output.
•
Use snapshotting in conjunction with whole-machine virtualization: Configuring a clean
machine using a whole-machine virtualization tool such as Microsoft Virtual PC and
saving a "before" snapshot based on this image allows many distinct virtual applications
to be snapshotted in rapid succession by reverting the whole-machine virtual state.
•
Snapshot on the earliest operating system variant you expect to target: Most applications
can be successfully configured by snapshotting on the earliest (least common
denominator) base operating system to be targeted. A small number of applications may
require multi-platform snapshotting for successful deployment across all operating
system variants.
7.1.2
Snapshot process
•
Save the "before" snapshot: Saving the snapshot assures that you need only take the
"before" snapshot a single time. It may be necessary to restart the target application
during the installation process, in which case you will need to reload the "before"
snapshot prior to capturing the "after" snapshot.
•
To prevent problems with open file handles, it is recommended that processes and
services that were started during installation are stopped prior to capturing the "after"
snapshot. In most cases it is sufficient to exit the target application, unless the
application installs services, such as Microsoft SQL Server, in which case the services
should also be stopped prior to taking the "after" snapshot.
•
Clean up your image: While ZENworks Application Virtualization automatically
excludes many unnecessary files and registry keys, snapshotting often picks up many
unnecessary items. If you have adequate technical understanding to do so, you may
significantly reduce virtual application size by manually removing unnecessary items
from the snapshot delta.
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Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization
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