The Four Stages to Application Readiness

In my previous postings, I mention in various ways and manners about the stages for getting applications ready for deployment. A colleague of mine (Sophie) was kind enough to break down the different activities and challenges into four separate stages which she called the ChangeBASE Stages of Application Readiness. 

These Stages of Application Readiness deal with collating your application portfolio, assessing for application compatibility,  fixing the application and making the required changes, and then converting those updated application packages into the target virtualization format. 

The following simple diagram illustrates this idea of the four stages of Application Readiness;

 

Loading

The Loading  stage Loading is all about getting your application portfolio together (hopefully, in one standardized format and directory structure) and taking that package information and collection of application binaries and placing into them into database for later interrogation. 

Assess

Once the applications are collated, and the relevant package meta-data and binary information has been collected you can start the assessment stage. This stage of "asking questions" about potential compatibility issues relates to application installation, configuration, runtime and then application un-installation. Some the platforms that ChangeBASE supports for application compatibility assessment include;

• Windows 7
• 64-BIT Hardare
• Microsoft App-V
• Internet Explorer (6,7,8,9)

In addition to these platforms, most of our clients also need to include an assessment of their application package quality against their existing QA checks and packages standards. Some of our clients also check their application packages against potential compatibility issues with Microsoft updates and Patch Tuesday changes.

One of the great features about the ChangeBASE assessment of these compatibility assessments, is that you can simplify the results and "roll-up" the combined results into a simple Red-Amber-Green table as illustrated in the following image.

 

Fixing

Once your application has been assessed for compatibility and compliance with your packages standards and QA checks, ChangeBASE can automatically update the target application package. ChangeBASE uses the Microsoft Installer Transform approach to express changes and updates in an application package. For most organizations, ChangeBASE generally fixes most of the issues raised by a Windows 7 assessment.

  

Convert

Using the same principles of bulk-loading, reporting and fixing, ChangeBASE offers a scalable solution to converting your applications to your desired virtualization format. Once your applications have been loaded into the ChangeBASE database, assessed and remediated then ChangeBASE will automatically convert those application packages in to App-V, VMWare ThinApp and Symantec SWVS virtual packages

And, once these four stages (Load, Assess, Fix and Convert) have been completed, your application portfolio is ready to deploy to User Acceptance Testing (UAT). which as you could guess, will be the subject for another blog posting

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CDC Webinar: Solving the Application Readiness Challenge

CDC Global Services Webinar

Solving the Application Readiness Challenge. 

Date: Thursday, March 22nd , 2012
Time: 1 PM EDT 
Duration: 1 hour 

Join us for the Solving the Application Readiness Challenge Webinar.

Note: The time has changed for this webinar from 2 PM EDT to 3 PM EDT

Whether you are planning a migration to Windows 7 or Office 2010, intend to use application virtualization or virtual desktop technologies, or want to upgrade your browser, it’s essential to know before deployment that the applications won’t fail. Quest ChangeBASE provides a faster way to ensure application compatibility issues are identified and resolved quickly and effortlessly, saving you time, while reducing cost and risk.

I will be leading this webinar today will spend some time to review the application compatibility challenge for Windows 7 and show you how packaging, testing and fixing potential compatibility issues are automated to simplify your migrations to Windows 7, Office 2010, and virtualized application.

Join us and you will:

·         Review Quest ChangeBASE product offerings – Standard, Professional and Browser Compatibility

·         Examine real world applications via case studies

·         Learn about the emerging technology

Register for the Event Here 

Windows Embedded - Another component of the Windows 8 Platform

I was chatting with a colleague last week (at a desperately cool coffee bar on Berlin's East side) and we got onto the topic of the Windows 8 computing platform.  I had taken the view that Windows 8 was not about the desktop, but about a "continuous computing platform" which included 

•      Windows 8 Server
•      Windows 8 Desktop
•      Windows 8 Tablets
•      Windows 8 Phone

As more coffee was consumed, we added "enabling" platforms to the mix with the addition of the following technologies

•      SQL Server 2012 (effectively the Windows 8 version of SQL Server)
•      Hyper-V (App-V and Server App-V)
•      Azure (App-fabric and potentially SQL Azure)

And, could we not forget Windows Embedded. Yes, Windows embedded. I had almost forgotten about the Windows XP embedded platform and what would happen with the introduction of the Windows 8 platform refresh.

A short read later, I found out that Microsoft had outlined their Windows Embedded Product Road map last November with the introduction of the Intelligent Systems category. It seems that the embedded platform will be released in sync with the Windows 8 platform and will cover devices such as;

• Point of Sale  (POS) Terminals
• In-Car information systems
• Medical Equipment 
• Games Machines (those found on bar top tables)

Kevin Dallas, the General Manager of Windows Embedded, has this to say about the next generation of Windows embedded;

“With today’s pervasive network connectivity, the emergence of cloud services and low-cost yet high-powered microchips, traditional embedded devices can now connect and participate as part of a broader IT infrastructure and exchange real-time data all the way to the customer’s fingertips,” Dallas says. “Intelligent systems offer endless possibilities for organizations to collect and act on information in real time, from understanding customer buying habits to tracking product shipments around the globe.”

Windows 8 Embedded appears to be broken down into 2 Products (or SKU's) with Windows 8 Standard and Windows 8 Enterprise.

Windows 8 Embedded Standard includes the following features;

• Advanced device lockdown through flexible keyboard filters and a new unified write filter that combines previous write filters into a single, streamlined solution for better management and enhanced uptime.
• Support for customized experiences and branding from boot to shut down, so apps can take advantage of Windows with a customized look and feel from the first press of the power button.
• Componentization of the OS to scale the system up or down depending on the device.
• IT pro management tools, including the Universal Configuration Tool (UCT) that provides for local and remote management, integrated into the security infrastructure.
• OS development tools, including the new Module Designer that allows developers to easily integrate third-party software into the OS, including the ability to copy files, execute commands, install drivers and modify the registry.

Microsoft has not released all of the details for Windows 8 Enterprise yet, but, when these details are released, I will update this blog posting.

References: 

Windows Embedded Standard 8 community technology preview

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/evaluate/windows-embedded-standard-8-ctp.aspx

Microsoft Intelligent Systems Roadmap

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2012/mar12/03-06WES8CTP.mspx

Microsoft Embedded Enterprise Homepage

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/evaluate/windows-embedded-enterprise.aspx

Microsoft Patch Tuesday: March 2012

With this March Microsoft Patch Tuesday update, we see a set of 6 updates; 1 with the rating of Critical, 4 with the rating of Important and 1 with that of Moderate. This is a relatively small update from Microsoft, and the potential compatibility impact for these updates is likely to be low.

Notably, the Patch Tuesday Security Update analysis performed by the ChangeBASE team has not identified any compatibility issues across the thousands of applications included in testing for this release. This makes us confident that this set of patches may be deployed with low risk of issue across the entire application portfolio.

Given the nature of the changes and updates included in each of these patches, most systems will require a reboot to successfully implement any and all of the patches and updates released in this March Patch Tuesday release cycle.

Sample Results

Here is a sample Summary report for a sample database where the Quest ChangeBASE Patch Impact team has run the latest Microsoft Updates against a test application portfolio. As you can see, no issues have been detected:

Testing Summary

MS12-017	Vulnerability in DNS Server Could Allow Denial of Service (2647170)
MS12-018	Vulnerability in Windows Kernel-Mode Drivers Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2641653)
MS12-019	Vulnerability in in DirectWrite Could Allow Denial of Service
MS12-020	Vulnerabilities in Remote Desktop Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2671387)
MS12-021	Vulnerability in Visual Studio Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2651019)
MS12-022	Vulnerability in Expression Design Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2651018)

Quest ChangeBASE RAG Report Summary

Security Update Detailed Summary

MS12-017	Vulnerability in DNS Server Could Allow Denial of Service (2647170)
Description	This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow denial of service if a remote unauthenticated attacker sends a specially crafted DNS query to the target DNS server.
Payload	Afd.sys, Dns.exe, Dnsperf.dll, Dnsperf.h, Dnsperf.ini, Mswsock.dll, Tcpip.sys, Tcpip6.sys, W03a3409.dll, Wdnsperf.dll, Wmswsock.dll, Ww03a3409.dll
Impact	Important - Denial of Service

MS12-018	Vulnerability in Windows Kernel-Mode Drivers Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2641653)
Description	This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to a system and runs a specially crafted application. An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit this vulnerability.
Payload	Win32k.sys
Impact	Important - Elevation of Privilege

MS12-019	Vulnerability in DirectWrite Could Allow Denial of Service
Description	Could Allow Denial of Service (2665364)
Payload	D2d1.dll, Dwrite.dll, D3d10_1.dll, D3d10_1core.dll, D3d10warp.dll
Impact	Moderate - Denial of Service

MS12-020	Vulnerabilities in Remote Desktop Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2671387)
Description	This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in the Remote Desktop Protocol. The more severe of these vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if an attacker sends a sequence of specially crafted RDP packets to an affected system. By default, the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is not enabled on any Windows operating system. Systems that do not have RDP enabled are not at risk.
Payload	Rdpwd.sys
Impact	Critical - Remote Code Execution

MS12-021	Vulnerability in Visual Studio Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2651019)
Description	This security update resolves one privately reported vulnerability in Visual Studio. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker places a specially crafted add-in in the path used by Visual Studio and convinces a user with higher privileges to start Visual Studio. An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit this vulnerability. The vulnerability could not be exploited remotely or by anonymous users.
Payload	Vsaenv.exe, BaseConfig.pkgdef, BaseConfig.pkgdef.version
Impact	Important - Elevation of Privilege

MS12-022	Vulnerability in Expression Design Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2651018)
Description	This security update resolves one privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Expression Design. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user opens a legitimate file (such as an .xpr or .DESIGN file) that is located in the same network directory as a specially crafted dynamic link library (DLL) file. Then, while opening the legitimate file, Microsoft Expression Design could attempt to load the DLL file and execute any code it contained. For an attack to be successful, a user must visit an untrusted remote file system location or WebDAV share and open a legitimate file (such as an .xpr or .DESIGN file) from this location that is then loaded by a vulnerable application.
Payload	No specific file payload
Impact	Important - Remote Code Execution

Security Update Detailed Summary

MS12-017	Vulnerability in DNS Server Could Allow Denial of Service (2647170)
Description	This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow denial of service if a remote unauthenticated attacker sends a specially crafted DNS query to the target DNS server.
Payload	Afd.sys, Dns.exe, Dnsperf.dll, Dnsperf.h, Dnsperf.ini, Mswsock.dll, Tcpip.sys, Tcpip6.sys, W03a3409.dll, Wdnsperf.dll, Wmswsock.dll, Ww03a3409.dll
Impact	Important - Denial of Service

MS12-018	Vulnerability in Windows Kernel-Mode Drivers Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2641653)
Description	This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to a system and runs a specially crafted application. An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit this vulnerability.
Payload	Win32k.sys
Impact	Important - Elevation of Privilege

MS12-019	Vulnerability in DirectWrite Could Allow Denial of Service
Description	Could Allow Denial of Service (2665364)
Payload	D2d1.dll, Dwrite.dll, D3d10_1.dll, D3d10_1core.dll, D3d10warp.dll
Impact	Moderate - Denial of Service

MS12-020	Vulnerabilities in Remote Desktop Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2671387)
Description	This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in the Remote Desktop Protocol. The more severe of these vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if an attacker sends a sequence of specially crafted RDP packets to an affected system. By default, the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is not enabled on any Windows operating system. Systems that do not have RDP enabled are not at risk.
Payload	Rdpwd.sys
Impact	Critical - Remote Code Execution

MS12-021	Vulnerability in Visual Studio Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2651019)
Description	This security update resolves one privately reported vulnerability in Visual Studio. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker places a specially crafted add-in in the path used by Visual Studio and convinces a user with higher privileges to start Visual Studio. An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit this vulnerability. The vulnerability could not be exploited remotely or by anonymous users.
Payload	Vsaenv.exe, BaseConfig.pkgdef, BaseConfig.pkgdef.version
Impact	Important - Elevation of Privilege

MS12-022	Vulnerability in Expression Design Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2651018)
Description	This security update resolves one privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Expression Design. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user opens a legitimate file (such as an .xpr or .DESIGN file) that is located in the same network directory as a specially crafted dynamic link library (DLL) file. Then, while opening the legitimate file, Microsoft Expression Design could attempt to load the DLL file and execute any code it contained. For an attack to be successful, a user must visit an untrusted remote file system location or WebDAV share and open a legitimate file (such as an .xpr or .DESIGN file) from this location that is then loaded by a vulnerable application.
Payload	No specific file payload
Impact	Important - Remote Code Execution

*All results are based on a ChangeBASE Application Compatibility Lab's test portfolio of over 1,000 applications.

For more information, please visit www.changebase.com