Cloudpager is the first and only application container management platform for Windows desktops. This provides you with a single cloud-based console to dynamically provision, update, roll back, recall, and meter your entire application estate across physical and virtual Windows desktop and multi-cloud environments.
Automating the Application Lifecycle with PowerShell Modules
While many of you may already be familiar with the platform, did you know that we published a Cloudpager PowerShell module late last year?
The module can be used to complete pretty much every administrative action possible in Cloudpager. You can add and publish new applications, create Workpods (Workpods allow you to logically group applications to be delivered together) to auto-deploy groups of applications to configured users, add applications to Workpods, create and edit Storefronts (provides end users with self-service application access via a web portal), work with the reporting data such as pulling data related to a specific applications usage, and more!
In this blog post, we will demonstrate how to use the available cmdlets in the module.
Examples of Cmdlets
Setting your Subscription Key
To begin, you will need to retrieve your Cloudpager Subscription Key for your Cloudpager tenant from Numecent Support. Once you have it, you will be able to use the Set-CloudpagerSubscriptionKey to set your Cloudpager subscription key in your PowerShell session.
Set-CloudpagerSubscriptionKey -SubscriptionKey
Adding an Application to Cloudpager
Adding applications with the module is straightforward. The Add-CloudpagerApplication cmdlet accepts many different parameters which set the properties that appear in the applications within the Cloudpager Admin Portal as you can see below.
Not all parameters available with this cmdlet are mandatory. In the example below, you can see I only pass some of the available parameters. In this case, I did not have the -UnitCost -AppCost or –CategoryName. If you wish to, you can set these parameters for your applications.
When you execute this cmdlet, the application will be uploaded and published to your Cloudpager tenant.
Add-CloudpagerApplication -Filepath “<FilepathToPackageFile> -Name “<ApplicationName>” -AppVersion “<ApplicationVersion>” -Publisher “<Publisher>” -ImagePath “<PathtoIconFile>” -Description “<Description>” -PublishComment “<Comment>” -Force
Creating a Workpod
One option for deploying your applications to your users is using Wordpods. Workpods allow you to logically group applications together and assign them to a user group. Upon publishing, applications within the Workpod will be automatically deployed to end users. In this example, I am creating a brand new Workpod for my finance group, which contains three applications they require day-to-day.
Add-CloudpagerWorkpod -Name “<NameofWorkpod> -Applications ‘<ApplicationID1>’, ‘<ApplicationID2>’, ‘<ApplicationID3>’ -Description <Description> -PublishComment <PublishComment> -Groups <Groups>
Adding Applications to an Existing Workpod
If you would like to simply add applications to an existing Workpod, you can use the WorkpodID from the Workpod you would like to add the application to. (Retrieve WorkpodID by using Get-CloudpagerWorkpod). An example of adding application an existing Workdpod can be found here:
Set-CloudpagerWorkpod -Workdpod “<WorkpodID>” -Applications “<Application Name>” -PublishComment “<PublishComment>” -Confirm -Force
How to Automate Application Packaging and Delivery Processes with the Cloudpager PowerShell Module
View the video below to see how you can leverage the Cloudpager PowerShell module to fully automate application packaging and delivery processes.
Conclusion: Get Started with the Cloudpager PowerShell Module
For several years, it has been possible to automate application packaging with Cloudpaging Studio and our Non-Interactive Packager. When you couple that with the Cloudpager API, you can automate the entire application packaging and deployment process. We hope this PowerShell module enables our customers to further progress on their IT automation journey.
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