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Mini-Review: Altiris SVS

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elpresi:
Hi cthorpe,
thanks for the review, it got me to try SVS; it did seem though to conflict with my Avast AV.
After that I tried Bufferzone, which I would describe as a combination of Altiris SVS and Sandboxie, since you can install programs into Bufferzone´s sandbox or simply run executables in it.
I find it is easier and safer to use (indeed SVS's scope is not sandbox safety but simply clean installs).
There is a freeware version too.
http://www.trustware.com/
I was wondering whether you have tried it and how you think it compares performance wise. My impression is that it is 1st a bit slow at startup but after that the applications within bufferzone seem to run with little overhead.

 :)

brownstudy:
I've been playing with SVS over the last 2 months or so. I've also downgraded my expectations of it but find it does have some value.

cthorpe is right; you do have to wrap your head around the virtualization model. (it's like remembering that the subjunctive tense in Spanish is a sort of parallel universe of tenses. I always got confused about who was doing exactly what to whom and when.) I read the SVS manual twice, haunted the forum, and read the many articles on their Juice site. And it still really didn't prepare me for all that I faced.

The key is remembering that this is enterprise-level software maintenance and the goal is consistent software environments/installations that contain as few customizations as possible and that can be rolled back to a known state in a minute. After you've installed an app to its own layer, you do have to go through some gyrations to update its options/settings/preferences--there are maybe 5 different ways to do this, some easy, some not so.

I hit the wall on this with Firefox, which I customize with extensions to within an inch of its life. Were I to reset FF, I would lose all those customizations. So it's better *for me* that that should go into the base (SVS's term for the non-virtualized system). Also, should I need to access the internet while all layers are turned off, then FF is unavailable to me and I'm left with IE.

In addition to the excludes for each app layer, there is the data layer concept. For example, I created a data layer for C:\Documents and Settings and its subdirectories. This meant that while that layer was active, all files created by virtual and non-virtual apps were saved to this layer. When the data layer was turned off -- poof -- all those files disappeared. This certainly makes it easy to export all your data to a VSA file for backup somewhere, but on a daily basis (and when you add in app-specific excludes) confusion about where a file really lived -- on the base? in a layer? -- got confusing quickly.

This got maddening to me because when I was installing apps, I was referring to my Roboform list of safenotes, updating them with new reg numbers, deleting old info, and so on. I'd had Roboform in the base originally, but had made edits when the data layer was active. When I turned the data layer off, all the edits I'd made were gone. It must be said, SVS did it very cleanly and certainly worked as advertised, so I can't fault it for that. But I could never "get"  the implications of where changes were saved.

I understand the SVS developers tout SVS as a way to make troubleshooting a system easier: just turn off all the layers and see if the problem is with your OS or an app. Add back the apps one at a time, and see when the problem appears. I grokked that.

But in truth, my system runs pretty well as is. I practice safe computing. I *like* knowing that all the files in My Documents are there whenever I want to access them. So using SVS to virtualize, say, my copy of MS Office 2000 or JME doesn't make much sense for me, because I like having those in my base. (SVS did virtualize MS Office 2000 beautifully though; over 12,000 registry entries!)

I had a few other problems; Directory Opus got confused about file moves/copies/deletes and could never refresh the view when the data layer was turned on (I tried vrtzng DO and it couldn't even delete files). I put a raft of account updates into Moneydance, turned off the Moneydance layer, and when I turned it back on saw that Moneydance had not retained any changes.

When I started reinstalling my apps back to the base, I felt a release of tension in my scalp because I wasn't thinking so hard about what I was doing when performing simple file management stuff.

I think my F-secure antivirus real-time scanner did stop some apps from installing to SVS. Very annoying. I had already read the reviews that cthorpe cited before I even started playing with SVS so I knew it had some reasonable limitations in regards to anti-virus and other types of software that need access to the system.

But I have not uninstalled SVS and I do keep some now-and-then apps in layers: NVU, VLC, Irfanview, Adobe Reader 8, Omnipage Scansoft (a pig of a program that adds lots of context menus I don't need--I'm glad to be able to turn it on and off like a light switch).

I'm also keeping SVS around so I can try out new software with it. It strikes me as a very easy way to play with new software without committing any changes to the base machine. (Of course, you could just play with new software in VMWare or Msft's Virtual PC, so that's a wash.)

I don't think SVS simplifies computing all that much for the home or casual user, but I think it definitely has its uses and, within its limits, it's very solid. It's probably more powerful for heavy-duty developer types who can cope with the abstractions and rules surrounding the layers and exclusions.

mike

nudone:
thanks for the explanation, brownstudy.

i was holding off trying svs until i had some spare time but after reading about your experience i'll probably just leave it completely. it sounds like svs wouldn't really compliment how i work and i do have vmware already so i think i'll stick to that instead.

tmpusr:
It's just awesome.

Install all software in a clean virtual machine.

Multi Export everything with three clicks.

Multi Import them all with three clicks to any system.

And it's going to be portable. Run virtualized apps anywhere without installing.

Check this out for "The Perfect XP System" utilizing Faronics Deep Freeze and SVS. ShadowStor ShadowUser should work too.

http://www.joewang.net/dump/the_perfect_xp_system

Carol Haynes:
Great article - thanks

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