Manage application groups

Introduction

This article describes how to manage the application groups you created.

See Applications for information about managing applications in application groups or delivery groups, including how to:

• Add or remove applications in an application group.
• Change application group associations.

Managing application groups requires the delegated administration permissions of the Delivery Group Administrator built-in role. For details, see Delegated administration.

Enable or disable an application group

When an application group is enabled, it can deliver the applications that have been added to it. Disabling an application group disables each application in that group. However, if those applications are also associated with other enabled application groups, they can be delivered from those other groups. Similarly, if the application was explicitly added to delivery groups associated with the application group (in addition to being added to the application group), disabling the application group does not affect the applications in those delivery groups.

An application group is enabled when you create it. You cannot change this when you create the group.

1. From Manage > Full Configuration, select Applications in the left pane, and then select the Application Groups tab.
2. Select an application group and then select Edit Application Group in the action bar.
3. On the Settings page, select or clear the Enable Application Group check box.
4. Select Apply to apply any changes you made and keep the window open, or select OK to apply changes and close the window.

Enable or disable application session sharing between application groups

Session sharing between application groups is enabled when you create an application group. You cannot change this when you create the group. For more information, see Session sharing with application groups.

1. From Manage > Full Configuration, select Applications in the left pane, and then select the Application Groups tab.
2. Select an application group and then select Edit Application Group in the action bar.
3. On the Settings page, select or clear the Enable application session sharing between Application Groups check box.
4. Select Apply to apply any changes you made and keep the window open, or select OK to apply changes and close the window.

Disable application session sharing within an application group

Session sharing between applications in the same application group is enabled by default when you create an application group. If you disable application session sharing between application groups, session sharing between applications in the same application group remains enabled.

You can use the PowerShell SDK to configure application groups with application session sharing disabled between the applications they contain. In some circumstances this can be desirable. For example, you might want users to start non-seamless applications in full-size application windows on separate monitors.

When you disable application session sharing within an application group, each application in that group launches in a new application session. If a suitable disconnected session is available which is running the same application, it is reconnected. For example, if you launch Notepad, and there is a disconnected session with Notepad running, that session is reconnected instead of creating a new one. If multiple suitable disconnected sessions are available, one of the sessions is chosen to reconnect to, in a random but deterministic manner. If the situation reoccurs in the same circumstances, the same session is chosen, but the session is not necessarily predictable otherwise.

You can use the PowerShell SDK to either disable application session sharing for all applications in an existing application group, or to create an application group with application session sharing disabled.

PowerShell cmdlet examples

To disable session sharing, use the Broker PowerShell cmdlets New-BrokerApplicationGroup or Set-BrokerApplicationGroup with the parameter SessionSharingEnabled set to False and the parameter SingleAppPerSession set to True.

• For example, to create an application group with application session sharing disabled for all applications in the group:

  New-BrokerApplicationGroup AppGr1 -SessionSharingEnabled $False ‑SingleAppPerSession $True

• For example, to disable application session sharing between all applications in an existing application group:

  Set-BrokerApplicationGroup AppGR1 -SessionSharingEnabled $False ‑SingleAppPerSession $True

Considerations

• To enable the SingleAppPerSession property you must set the SessionSharingEnabled property to False. The two properties must not be enabled at the same time. The SessionSharingEnabled parameter refers to sharing sessions between application groups.
• Application session sharing works only for applications that are associated with application groups but are not associated with delivery groups. All applications that are associated directly with a delivery group share sessions by default.
• If an application is assigned to multiple application groups, make sure that the groups do not have conflicting settings. For example, one group with the option set to True, and another group’s option set to False results in unpredictable behavior.

Rename an application group

1. From Manage > Full Configuration, select Applications in the left pane, and then select the Application Groups tab.
2. Select an application group and then select Rename Application Group in the action bar.
3. Specify the new unique name and then select OK.

Add, remove, or change the priority of delivery group associations with an application group

An application group can be associated with delivery groups containing shared (not private) machines that can deliver applications.

You can also select delivery groups containing shared machines that deliver only desktops, if both of the following conditions are met:

• The delivery group contains shared machines and was created with a version earlier than 7.9.
• You have Edit Delivery Group permission.

The delivery group type is automatically converted to “desktops and applications” when the Edit Application Group dialog is committed.

1. From Manage > Full Configuration, select Applications in the left pane, and then select the Application Groups tab.
2. Select an application group and then select Edit Application Group in the action bar.
3. Select the Delivery Groups page.
4. To add delivery groups, select Add. Select the check boxes of available delivery groups. (Incompatible delivery groups cannot be selected.) When you finish your selections, select OK.
5. To remove delivery groups, select the check boxes of the groups you want to remove and then select Remove. Confirm the deletion when prompted.
6. To change the priority of delivery groups, select the check box of the delivery group and then select Edit Priority. Enter the priority (0 = highest) and then select OK.
7. Select Apply to apply any changes you made and keep the window open, or select OK to apply changes and close the window.

Add, change, or remove a tag restriction in an application group

Adding, changing, and removing tag restrictions can have unanticipated effects on which machines are considered for application launch. Review the considerations and cautions in Tags.

1. From Manage > Full Configuration, select Applications in the left pane, and then select the Application Groups tab.
2. Select an application group and then select Edit Application Group in the action bar.
3. Select the Delivery Groups page.
4. To add a tag restriction, select Restrict launches to machines with the tag and then select the tag from the menu.
5. To change or remove a tag restriction, either select a different tag from the menu or remove the tag restriction by clearing Restrict launches to machines with this tag.
6. Select Apply to apply any changes you made and keep the window open, or select OK to apply changes and close the window.

Add or remove users in an application group

For detailed information about users, see Create application groups.

1. From Manage > Full Configuration, select Applications in the left pane, and then select the Application Groups tab.
2. Select an application group and then select Edit Application Group in the action bar.
3. Select the Users page. Indicate whether you want to allow all users in the associated delivery groups to use applications in the application group, or only specific users and groups. To add users, select Add, and then specify the users you want to add. To remove users, select one or more users and then select Remove.
4. Select Apply to apply any changes you made and keep the window open, or select OK to apply changes and close the window.

Add, change, or remove an application icon in an application group

Perform the following steps to add, change, or remove an application icon.

1. In the navigation pane, select Applications.

2. On the All Applications tab, select an application and then select Properties.

   To make changes at an application group level, navigate to the Application Groups tab, select an application in a group, and then select Properties.

3. Select the Delivery page and then select Change. The Select Icon window appears.

4. In the Select Icon window, do either of the following:

   • To add an icon, select Add and then browse to the icon.
   • To remove an icon, select it and then select Remove.
   • To change an icon, select it for the application.

   Important:

   • You cannot add an icon whose size is greater than 200 KB.
   • You can add only .icon files.
   • You cannot remove built-in icons.
   • You cannot remove an icon of an application that is in use.

5. Select OK to apply changes and close the window.

Change scopes in an application group

You can change a scope only if you have created a scope (you cannot edit the All scope). For more information, see Delegated administration.

1. From Manage > Full Configuration, select Applications in the left pane, and then select the Application Groups tab.
2. Select an application group in the middle pane and then select Edit Application Group in the action bar.
3. Select the Scopes page. Select or clear the check box next to the scopes you want to change.
4. Select Apply to apply any changes you made and keep the window open, or select OK to apply changes and close the window.

Delete an application group

An application must be associated with at least one delivery group or application group. If deleting an application group will result in one or more applications no longer belonging to a group, you are warned that deleting that group will also delete those applications. You can then confirm or cancel the deletion.

Deleting an application does not delete it from its original source. However, if you want to make it available again, you must add it again.

1. From Manage > Full Configuration, select Applications in the left pane, and then select the Application Groups tab.
2. Select an application group and then select Delete Group in the action bar.
3. Confirm the deletion when prompted.