Scoping for App-V Sequencing
App-V is an emerging technology and there is always some uncertainty on how to scope the effort and time for planning and deploying new technologies. I found some information from the App-V Sequencing guide on the approximate sequencing times for several application types.
All applications are different and therefore no application will require the same amount of time to sequence. However, sequencing estimates can be put into four different categories based on the complexity of the application, size (in both size on disk and number of files), the sequencer skills and finally reliance on other resources outside of the virtual application (application owners, users, testers etc)
There is significant planning and research involved for application sequencing so i have added planning and testing time to the table below. Please refer to the best practices list for app-v sequencing planning.
Application Type |
Description |
Planning Time Scale |
Sequencing Time Scale |
Simple |
These applications are normally small ones. An example of an application in this category would be WinZip or Adobe Reader. These applications are very straightforward and normally small in size (usually under 100MB). Very little if any modifications are needed. |
Typical planning time less than 1 day |
Typical sequencing time less than 1 hour |
Moderate |
These applications might require slight changes while sequencing to function correctly. Or in some cases they may require no changes but have a larger install that takes more time. And in rare occurrences you will encounter both. Changes you might encounter in these packages would be on the order of making changes to the registry, altering the .osd file to launch with additional parameters and scripts, or finally there maybe additional applications needed to install together as a suite so they can function together. This is probably the most common application type you will run into. |
Typical planning time between 1-2 days |
Typical Sequencing time between 1-4 hours |
Complex |
These are large applications or applications that take four or more hours to install, significant amounts of customization to function in the virtual environment, or both. Packages like this will normally be 3-4 GB in size and may require compression to get the package under the 4GB App-V limit. Other hurdles you may encounter are the applications reliance on files being in a specific place and functions hard coded to that install. These applications may require you to manually edit batch and command files to point to resources in the virtual environment. If this is the case it is highly recommended utilizing a program that can scan multiple files and make several changes at once. You also may be required to install a device driver separately since drivers cannot be virtualized. Applications of this complexity can be sequenced however it is imperative that before you begin that all the pieces are in place. All knowledgeable resources should be engaged and available, sequencing hardware should be better than average, and finally sequencing applications such as these should be done by an experienced sequencer who has experience with the App-V product. |
Typical planning time between 2-3 days |
Typical Sequencing time between 4-8 hours but could be longer depending on the size and number of files |