The Application Catalog is used for User and User Group targeted applications. If you only plan to use machine-targeted distributions, you will not need to configure the Application Catalog.
The Application Catalog requires two different roles: the Application Catalog Web Service Point and the Application Catalog Website Point. The Application Catalog Web Service Point must reside in the same forest as the site database. The application web site can exist in a different forest, if required. There are several prerequisites for installing the Application Catalog— review technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg682145.aspx for a complete list. For our test environment, we use the following steps to fully configure Windows Server 2008 R2 for all site server roles:
Download the latest installer for .NET Framework 4.0 (full version). Run the following command from an administrative command prompt:
dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64.exe" /passive /norestart
Open...