TechFest 2010 Buzz Pt 6 – High Availability of Exchange Server 2010
Welcome back to our TechFest TV video series.
Again, Aaron Harclerode, Springhouse’s Director of Technical Services gives a quick overview of his session at TechFest where he’s going to discuss High Availability of Exchange Server 2010.
Here’s the 3 minute video…
Dont’ forget to watch Aaron’s video about Windows Server 2008 R2 or watch all the TechFest TV videos on our SpringhouseTraining YouTube Channel.
Application Compatibility Toolkit – Will it do everything I need?
Any time I have worked with a client regarding Windows 7 (or even Vista) deployment, the client organization has had some genuine confusion about the use and purpose of the Application Compatibility Toolkit or ACT. There is a lot of information on the operation of ACT but very little on where ACT fits into the overall deployment process. So, I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about the purpose of ACT and what it does and does NOT do.
Let me start by stating that ACT is just a tool to help manage and in some ways speed up the compatibility testing phase of your deployment. Even Microsoft makes it perfectly clear in their deployment documentation and even on the ACT website that you cannot rely exclusively on ACT to verify compatibility for all of your applications.
The good points about ACT:
ACT is free and is available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/business/smb/en-au/deploy-office-and-vista/vista-testing-compatibility-with-act-5-0.mspx . The download page even includes a basic overview of the testing process and when and how ACT should be used.
ACT can be a great way to run a very thorough inventory of system hardware and software throughout your enterprise.
ACT gives a listing of Vendor provided information about compatibility (when available) as well as any “community generated” information.
You want to keep in mind that for each action item listed in your ACT reports, you will need to open that item and investigate the details of the issue to see what steps are recommended. That can be quite a cumbersome task if you are dealing with hundreds or even thousands of applications. Plan your timeline accordingly.
Of course you can also choose to send your compatibility test information to Microsoft for use in their database. Most of the companies that I have worked with have chosen to NOT send information to Microsoft so keep this in mind if you’re planning to rely on the community generated information. There may not be as much data as you expect.
Using ACT is a great way to get your testing phase started by quickly identifying known issues so you can begin resolution of those issues while the rest of the testing phase continues.
Once again I cannot stress enough that ACT is NOT a one-step solution for ensuring compatibility. ACT takes an inventory of applications on the client machines. ACT then checks these applications as it inventories them to see if they will have KNOWN Windows 7 compatibility issues. Seeing a green checkmark next to an application does not ensure compatibility, it only means that those specific tests were passed.
ACT can build shims. ACT also gives you the ability in some cases to build “shims” or fixes for applications and this can be a wonderful benefit depending on the number of issues you are encountering.
ACT does NOT :
..Inventory network based applications which are not actually being used while the inventory process is running.
–This means, for example, if you are testing a system used by accounting personnel and the test does not take place while payroll is being processed, you may miss important network based software applications in your testing process.
Scheduling your inventory tasks for the correct timeframes is a very important consideration.
..Perform in-depth testing of applications for compatibility such as process permission testing.
–This means if your application does not require admin rights to run but does require admin rights for specific tasks, that particular conflict will not be identified by ACT unless it is a previously known issue.
The Bottom Line…
Application compatibility issues are one of the biggest potential problems in a Windows 7 deployment. There is no substitute for actually conducting system tests and using pilot groups to ensure that no major conflicts exist or that all conflicts have been dealt with. However, ACT is a great tool in the initial steps of creating an application inventory and spotting any known problems and even some solutions quickly in order to help improve the accuracy of your compatibility testing phase.
Just as a side-note.. I will be discussing more details of the whole testing process as well as other phases of the deployment process at TechFest in Philadelphia on May 7th and in Washington DC May 21st so stop over and spend the day with us if you’re in the area.
