Import

Aug 14, 2017

AppDNA identifies an application as a web or desktop application by the way that it is imported into AppDNA. Applications that are imported through the Import Web Applications screen are considered to be web applications. All other applications are considered desktop applications.

Desktop applications

Import Windows desktop applications using their installation packages. These can be .msi or any other type of installation package. Alternatively, they can be App-V (.sft or .appv) packages. After you locate the application installation packages, go to the Import Applications screen to import them.

Import desktop applications using any of these methods:

  • Direct importUse to import applications for which you have a Windows Installer (.msi) or App-V (.sft or .appv) package. This is the quickest way to get the application DNA into the database.
  • Install CaptureUse to import applications for which you do not have a Windows installer (.msi) or App-V (.sft or .appv) package. Install Capture uses a virtual machine to capture the details of the application’s installation and configuration into an MSI which is then imported.
  • Self-ProvisioningUse to manage Self-Provisioning, which provides an alternative mechanism for capturing desktop applications for import into AppDNA. The capture takes place on a separate machine from AppDNA. This can be any type of machine (virtual, physical, or VDI). Self-Provisioning can be used to delegate the responsibility for capturing and packaging applications to end users.

Managed applications. If you use Active Directory or Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (Configuration Manager) to deploy applications, you can import applications using the deployed installations. First you load the Active Directory and Configuration Manager data into the AppDNA database. The Active Directory and Configuration Manager data includes organizational units, groups, collections, users, computers, and the installation operations for applications that have been deployed.

After the Active Directory and Configuration Manager data is in the AppDNA database, the Managed Applications screen lists all applications deployed through Active Directory and Configuration Manager. You can select the ones you want to import and AppDNA transfers them to the Import Applications screen where you can import them into AppDNA in the normal way.

When you work with Active Directory and Configuration Manager data in this way, AppDNA creates organization reports. These provide summaries of the status of the managed applications that have been deployed to users and computers in the groups and organizational units that are defined in Active Directory or Configuration Manager.

For more information, see Integrate data from Active Directory and Configuration Manager.

Discovery and rationalization. To find out which Windows applications are used across your enterprise, use the Discover Applications screen. This integrates with, and relies upon, Lakeside SysTrack, which audits and tracks actual application use within the enterprise. The Discover Applications screen pulls in the application auditing information from the SysTrack database and lists the applications that are in use across your organization. This can help you rationalize the applications and decide which you want to migrate to a new platform, for example. You can then import those applications into AppDNA.

For more information, see Discover Applications.

Web applications

You can import web applications into AppDNA by using two different approaches or a combination of both.

  1. Use the AppDNA directed spider to crawl over the run-time HTML pages and capture them for import into AppDNA.
  2. Import the web application’s source files.
  3. Combine the output from the directed spider with the web application’s source files.

Both approaches can be done from within AppDNA or by using the stand-alone AppDNA Web Application Capture tools.

For more information, see Import web applications.