Application Management and Patching
Introducing Application Workspace 4.3: New Branding, New Capabilities, Same Powerful Performance
Yes, it’s that time of the year again! Recast is rolling out a new release of Application Workspace, version 4.3. The big question on everyone’s mind is: will this release bring significant improvements or just minor tweaks? This release is truly impressive! It comes packed with serious enhancements and several important new features. I’m excited to give you a sneak preview of the most interesting highlights in this upcoming release.
What makes this release stand out is the hard work and dedication of our development team. They have worked for months to bring these improvements to life, and the results speak for themselves. Huge kudos to them. I’m proud to work alongside such an incredible group on this powerful platform.
Brand New Look and Feel
You likely noticed our rebranding last September. At that time, it was a name change that rebranded the product as Application Workspace (formerly Liquit Workspace). When you open Application Workspace 4.3, you’ll immediately notice the new UI. The platform now has a fresh, modern appearance. No drastic changes, but definitely a very pleasant experience.
But that’s not all. The installer for the Application Workspace Agent and the Windows Server has also undergone a name change. The names of the firewall rules created by the installer have been renamed to Application Workspace Server.
This change might not be surprising. We’ve changed the display names of the Windows Services to “Application Workspace Agent” and “Application Workspace Server” for self-hosted environments. If you need to restart the service, simply type “A” or search by name to locate it at the top of the list. We can’t make it prettier, but we can definitely make it easier!
Note: We left the service name and installation paths unchanged. Why? Because many organizations use monitoring solutions or scripts that reference the service name or installation paths. This saves you the hassle of making any adjustments.
Microsoft Teams Integration
Many users spend a significant amount of time in Teams, so why not have all your applications and resources available there? With the new Microsoft Teams integration, you can now access your applications and resources through a wizard-driven configuration.
This feature has been in preview for some time, but with this release it is officially available, along with several major enhancements. This not only saves time, but also makes it easier to keep everything in one place.
If you were using the preview version, you’ll notice a rebranding and several additional tweaks.
Smart Diagnostic Report
Nothing is more frustrating than technical issues with no apparent cause. With the new Diagnostic Report feature, you can notify administrators with one click, with relevant log files automatically attached.
Imagine this: you launch your favorite application, and suddenly an error pops up. With Application Workspace, you not only see the error, but also gain access to a new tab for submitting a diagnostic report. This innovative feature streamlines troubleshooting.
The new Submit Diagnostics option, available in the User Portal, can also be used to generate a user support bundle. This feature speeds up troubleshooting and reduces the time spent diagnosing issues.
If you have configured an email address within Application Workspace, the platform will also send an email containing a description and a link to a zip file with device, network, user, server, and log file information (Agent.json/Agent.log/UserHost.log).
From an administrator’s perspective, Diagnostic Reports are collected centrally. This feature is also available within Application Workspace under Manage > System > Diagnostics Reports.
New Time Zone Filters
Work with colleagues in different time zones? You’ll appreciate the new filters, which include both a time zone filter and a time zone offset filter. You can now group devices and users by time zone, ensuring more coordinated updates and deployments. This allows you to efficiently manage package updates and reduce high loads!
Extended Support for Other macOS App Formats
Since we support multiple platforms, including macOS, there’s great news for Mac users. Application Workspace now supports even more file types, such as: .pkg .mpkg .dmg .zip .tar .tar.gz .tar.bz2 .tar.xz .tgz .txz .gzip .bzip2 .tbz2
This update makes managing apps and files on macOS much smoother.
Better Email Integration with Microsoft 365
This feature exemplifies how we listen to our partners and customers. We have often heard that SMTP authentication is outdated and could be more secure. Well, we’ve heard you loud and clear! Application Workspace now supports Microsoft Graph API for sending emails. This method is not only more secure but also future proof.
Improved Logging for Connection via Satellite
Have you ever encountered an error with your satellite server without knowing the cause? In this release, error messages now include information about the error’s origin. Both servers, primary and satellite, must be running the same Application Workspace version, 4.3 or later. This improvement reduces troubleshooting time and helps resolve issues faster.
Wait for a Zone while in a Deployment
Have you ever had a deployment interrupted by a VPN installation or a virus scanner with a firewall? That was always a headache. Now, if your connection to a zone is interrupted during deployment, it will wait and resume once the connection is restored. This change prevents deployment errors that occurred in previous versions.
Support Lifecycle
Say goodbye to outdated versions. Versions 3.x of the Agent and Legacy Bootstrapper for Windows are no longer supported and have reached end-of-life. It is also worth noting that the ‘/legacyDownload’ option is no longer available in the bootstrapper. Therefore, the Liquit Workspace Agent can no longer be downloaded. Time to stay up to date!
We Value Feedback: New Portal
We value your feedback and have taken it into account. We are excited to announce that our new feedback portal is now live. You can now sign up to share your ideas and check out what others are suggesting at https://ideas.recastsoftware.com/. Visit our feedback portal and let your voice be heard. We can’t wait to see what you share!
Conclusion: Application Workspace 4.3 is Here!
This update brings visual improvements and introduces several smart features that simplify your daily tasks. The standout features include the Teams integration, enhanced logging, smart diagnostics, and expanded macOS support. As with previous releases, we will provide guidance for upgrading Application Workspace.
I hope you enjoy this release!
