Software Virtualization Solution
Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 6:40 am
My brain is reeling as I imaging potential uses for this. Best of all, it is FREE for personal use without even needing a " 'dizDL"
more info and download links follow this cut-n-paste of a review:::
----------review begin----------------
A relative newcomer to the virtualization space, Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS) easily takes the cake when it comes to application virtualization and isolation. That's its primary purpose.
SVS also has centralized management features to make broad deployment much more feasible. But unlike Virtual PC or VMware, SVS isn't a whole-system virtualization product. You can't use it to run Windows 95 or Linux on your Windows XP box.
The whole concept of application virtualization is excellent. It will doubtless have further reach in the long term than full-system virtualization. Rather than building VMs, you build what Altiris calls Virtual Software Packages (VSPs). This places the focus more on applications than on entire operating systems. It pushes virtualization to the application level.
A VSP captures an application's files, registry settings and data. The VSP lives in a special area of your hard disk. Thanks to some file system shenanigans, the application files look like they're part of your base computer's file system--but they're not.
Each VSP acts as a set of layers over your base OS. For example, while Firefox's VSP might be in C:fslrdr1PROGRAMFILES Mozilla Firefoxfirefox.exe, you'll actually see it in C:Program FilesMozilla Firefoxfirefox.exe. It would look as if it were installed on your base OS.
Deactivate the Firefox VSP, however, and it "disappears" from your computer since it is not longer running. Any changes made to Firefox while it's running, like adding bookmarks, are added to its VSP layer, not the base file system. This makes the VSP portable, completely self-contained and easy to secure.
This virtualization technique is obviously a marked change from what VMware and Microsoft are doing, but it doesn't work with everything. You can't virtualize device drivers, virus checkers, Windows patches and some other software within SVS.
Another unique aspect of Altiris SVS is that it's centrally manageable. Altiris promotes the product as an end-user application--suitable for improving desktop security and stability--and not a professional-level tool. VMware also recognizes this use (its Player application supports the scenario pretty well), but doesn't provide the centralized management features.
Altiris also provides plug-ins so you can use Microsoft SMS to deploy and manage SVS virtual applications. -- D.J.
------------------end of review------------------------
click this button to expand an embedded webpage with download links for the SVSpersonal edition and a bunch of pre-built virtual software packages: [spoil:13daa6dc17]
http://svsdownloads.com/[/spoil:13daa6dc17]
if that page failed to load try this one and select svsdownloads.com[spoil:13daa6dc17]
http://juice.altiris.com/node/86[/spoil:13daa6dc17]
click this button to expand the embeded home page for the developer of this software[spoil:13daa6dc17]
http://www.altiris.com/Products/Softwar ... ution.aspx[/spoil:13daa6dc17]
and finally this button will reveal an embedded page containing a community forum site where you can find articles, demos, and more stuff to download to plug into your virtual setup [spoil:13daa6dc17]
http://www.altiris.com/juice/svs[/spoil:13daa6dc17]
more info and download links follow this cut-n-paste of a review:::
----------review begin----------------
A relative newcomer to the virtualization space, Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS) easily takes the cake when it comes to application virtualization and isolation. That's its primary purpose.
SVS also has centralized management features to make broad deployment much more feasible. But unlike Virtual PC or VMware, SVS isn't a whole-system virtualization product. You can't use it to run Windows 95 or Linux on your Windows XP box.
The whole concept of application virtualization is excellent. It will doubtless have further reach in the long term than full-system virtualization. Rather than building VMs, you build what Altiris calls Virtual Software Packages (VSPs). This places the focus more on applications than on entire operating systems. It pushes virtualization to the application level.
A VSP captures an application's files, registry settings and data. The VSP lives in a special area of your hard disk. Thanks to some file system shenanigans, the application files look like they're part of your base computer's file system--but they're not.
Each VSP acts as a set of layers over your base OS. For example, while Firefox's VSP might be in C:fslrdr1PROGRAMFILES Mozilla Firefoxfirefox.exe, you'll actually see it in C:Program FilesMozilla Firefoxfirefox.exe. It would look as if it were installed on your base OS.
Deactivate the Firefox VSP, however, and it "disappears" from your computer since it is not longer running. Any changes made to Firefox while it's running, like adding bookmarks, are added to its VSP layer, not the base file system. This makes the VSP portable, completely self-contained and easy to secure.
This virtualization technique is obviously a marked change from what VMware and Microsoft are doing, but it doesn't work with everything. You can't virtualize device drivers, virus checkers, Windows patches and some other software within SVS.
Another unique aspect of Altiris SVS is that it's centrally manageable. Altiris promotes the product as an end-user application--suitable for improving desktop security and stability--and not a professional-level tool. VMware also recognizes this use (its Player application supports the scenario pretty well), but doesn't provide the centralized management features.
Altiris also provides plug-ins so you can use Microsoft SMS to deploy and manage SVS virtual applications. -- D.J.
------------------end of review------------------------
click this button to expand an embedded webpage with download links for the SVSpersonal edition and a bunch of pre-built virtual software packages: [spoil:13daa6dc17]
http://svsdownloads.com/[/spoil:13daa6dc17]
if that page failed to load try this one and select svsdownloads.com[spoil:13daa6dc17]
http://juice.altiris.com/node/86[/spoil:13daa6dc17]
click this button to expand the embeded home page for the developer of this software[spoil:13daa6dc17]
http://www.altiris.com/Products/Softwar ... ution.aspx[/spoil:13daa6dc17]
and finally this button will reveal an embedded page containing a community forum site where you can find articles, demos, and more stuff to download to plug into your virtual setup [spoil:13daa6dc17]
http://www.altiris.com/juice/svs[/spoil:13daa6dc17]