Thin Client

VMware: VMware ThinApp Blog: ThinApp POC (In a Blog)

General Info:

Often times we get asked how to build up a simple proof of concept (POC) environment and what all is involved. I thought I would take the time to put a few things together here to help the "Do-It-Yourself-ers" here.

There are a number of videos on how to do this...

...but it always helps to have a simple document to follow in order to check stuff off as it's done.

What Is Needed:

The following are the basic things which are needed with my comments and general recommendations.

* A system to act as the host which has enough RAM and disk space to start (I would say no less than 4GB of RAM and 50GB of disk space but that's just my own recommendation). This can be a Mac or a Windows system (I'm assuming a workstation and not an ESX/vSphere server, but you could use a VM located on an ESX/vSphere server).

* VMware Workstation 7.x or VMware Fusion 3.x.

* A Windows XP Pro SP2 or SP3 CD (Other Windows operating systems can be used such as Win Vista, Win 7, Win 2000 SP4 or even NT4 SP6 can be used if needed for older apps - but this is a Proof of Concept meant to show the technology working).

* A Valid Windows Operating System License.
NOTE: An operating system Volume License key of some sort may be desireable.

* A simple application: I know everyone is probably "Firefox'ed" out about now but it does make for a simple demonstration of the technology - and one which you can easily configure and demonstrate all of the different ThinApp functionalities. If you don't have any online capabilities, maybe something such as Paint.Net or Adobe Reader.

* One other thing to note is, it is recommended to create a VMware Store Account Login if you don't already have one. It's free to do, you don't have to associate it to your company if you do not wish to, and you can opt out of all the email notifications if desired. This will allow you to not only download the necessary VMware products and eval licenses, but also give you access to the VMware Communities and other items of support. Plus, if you wish to purchase anything (such as VMware Fusion or VMware Workstation), it's easily done once you have a VMware Store Account.

VMware Resources:

Before we get started, let's list off some resources to get most everything needed. Please note, I am listing both the product home page and the product download page. If you do not have a full or eval license registered to your account, the product download page may not allow you to download the product! Therefore, I've listed the Product Home Page for each product as within each product home page is a link to request an evaluation (yes, you need to fill in your personal info, but it's a minuscule price for a fully functioning, time-bombed copy of the product).

* VMware Workstation - Home, Download
NOTE: The Linux version of Workstation can also be used and is available from these links.

* VMware Fusion (in case you are a Mac user) - Home, Download

* VMware ThinApp - Home, Download

* While it is totally possible for you to build your ThinApp Capture-and-Build (CnB) system on any virtual system host such as ESX/ESXi, vSphere, and incorporate it with other VMware products such as Lab Manager, View, etc., for the sake of this article, I'm going to stick with the basics as our goal is to create a simple ThinApp CnB environment.

VMware: VMware ThinApp Blog: ThinApp POC (In a Blog)