Composer

You can obtain a PKG installer for Flash Player, you're supposed to register with them to distribute it to get the URL to download the Player to deploy to your clients. Yes, you read that right. Stupidest licensing requirement ever. Google "Flash Player distribution3" if you want to get to the download page.

I wouldn't exactly say to avoid Composer... who told you that? Composer, like any tool, can be a source of problems if you do not know what you are doing. But it's a powerful tool.

Hi @CSHGreenwich,

Have you reached out here about any if these issues or searched here?

There should be a few examples that should get you going.

Once you have the Adobe Flash distribution license issue handled, I have a script available that should make distributing it much easier:

https://github.com/rtrouton/rtrouton_scripts/tree/master/rtrouton_scripts/install_latest_adobe_flash_player

@CSHGreenwich

I apologize, but I’m a bit confused about what you’re asking here; is there a specific reason you need to avoid Composer?

Are we having trouble packaging and deploying Flash Player and Open DNS?

If so, what kind of errors are happening when we try?

There is a Flash Player specific thread here ( https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/discussion.html?id=10256 ), and Adobe products typically require a little more legwork to get packaged and deployed successfully due to the way Adobe packages its installers.

It’s a little more involved than just drag & drop. We have a general KB on dealing with Adobe installers here: https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/article.html?id=161

@RobertHammen touched on the last bit of information i was going to bring up, so it’s not necessary for me to repeat that here.

It’s possible OpenDNS has its own requirements for packaging and deploying its software, but without knowing what sort of error is happening, it’s difficult to give any pertinent information.

It may be best for you to reach out to your Technical Account Manager so they can assist.
You can reach them by one of the following ways:

- Give our General Support line a call.

- Call your Technical Account Manager directly, if you have their number.

- Send an e-mail to support@jamfsoftware.com. This will route directly to your TAM’s case queue and will also allow others to see the case in the even that your TAM is unavailable or out of the office.

- Create a case using the My Support section of JAMF Nation.

Thanks!
Amanda Wulff
JAMF Software Support

I did reach out to Casper support regarding the Flashplayer and I was told they could not assist me. I needed to go to the forum.
I have applied for the Flashplayer license so I am waiting for that.

My biggest problem is how to incorporate a script and a dog. I downloaded the latest flash package from rtrouton.

It works when I run it manually on a machine but how do I put the 2 together in Composer or Casper admin.

I have been reviewing Greg Neagle's notes from the Mac admins conference and it is helping.

many thanks to CasperSally with the note to check the permissions at the bottom of the composer window! I just successfully created a working self service package for ClamXAV.. The permissions would have been an issue if this had not been mentioned. Thank you. Phew finally something working.

@CSHGreenwich - glad I could help. When I was thrown into Mac management, I remember not really understanding Composer and the good/bad of snapshots. After a phone call with support (couldn't have been an hour of their time), I was off to the races. I'd encourage you to ask support again for some time walking through how to build a basic package with composer, what proper permissions should be, what are common files that show up in snapshots that should be ignored, etc. An hour spent on the phone with them might save you a few days of learning on your own.

If you have some time, also consider the JAMF training courses. I had one with Miles Lacey in NYC a few years back, and it was great.

Just as a side note, I was told by the consultant that did our Initial Quick start up that I could not call support with a how to question, I had to work on the issue until something did not work then I could call and say I did this but it is not working.

@CSHGreenwich, I'm sure that the person you would reach at JAMF's support would prefer that approach, but there's no rule I'm aware of that says you can't contact support when you're stuck. That's part of what you pay a support contract for.

I have my Adobe flash license and files!

@CSHGreenwich

That’s certainly not something that we’d expect a customer to be told during their Jump Start, or at any time, really; we’re always happy to help out however we can, even with products that aren’t ours.

I had to learn how to configure IIS on a Windows 2012 on the fly a few months back, just as an example! Prior to that, I’d never even seen the IIS interface in anything newer than Windows NT. I can’t say that it was a super quick call, and there were a few, “Hang on, I need to see if I can find some documentation on Microsoft’s site about that…” instances, but we eventually found out where the problem was in IIS and got it fixed.

Worst case scenario, if it’s something we just can’t get figured out (which happens occasionally, we’re still human after all :) ), we can at least help get you pointed in the right direction or toward someone or toward another resource that would be able to help.

Adobe products in general can be a bit tricky to get packaged and deployed, due to how Adobe’s AIMEE works vs. how Composer packages things, but aside from a little extra legwork to make it work as we’d expect, it’s typically something support (or JAMF Nation, or both!) can help out with.

In general, we always do recommend using JAMF Nation in addition to contacting support directly as, sometimes, you can get a faster answer that way, your question (and any answers given) might help someone else out in the future, and there are a lot of really sharp people on JAMF Nation, especially when it comes to doing super complicated things, scripting, or things that may be a bit outside ordinary workflows, so it’s always a good resource.
Many times, the more sets of eyes on a problem, the better.
I use JAMF Nation to find answers as part of my usual set of resources, and I work in support!

I sent an e-mail to our Professional Services Coordinator with a link to this thread so she can check up on things and, if necessary, let our integrator know of any mistakes that were made as we like to make sure all of our integrators are on the same pages as we are and are giving our customers accurate information during their Jump Starts.
It’s not going to get anyone in trouble or get anyone fired or anything like that, we just like to make sure our integrators are giving out correct information hen they’re on site with customers.

I see you’ve got a couple of cases open right now, and yesterday I looked into them a bit and left some notes for the two support techs that you’ve been working with, so hopefully that helps move things forward a bit.

Thanks!
Amanda Wulff
JAMF Software Support

My first issue with Flashplayer seems to be solved.. I have only completed 2 test cases.
The answer seems to be APPLY for the licensing.
Download the files for System administrators. Open the DMG and drag the pkg file to your desktop or wherever .
Then open Casper Administrator and drag the pkg into it.
Complete your settings as you need.
Mine works in self service on a previously image machine with Flashplayer 11.

I also need to thank my new JAMFsoftware Technical account manager who hinted that this would work with the new version of Flash player. More testing tomorrow but for today a success.

While we are on the topic of Composer, you don't actually have to use the snapshot function if your worried about it capturing a bunch of extra rubbish If your pretty certain what goes where you can just drag a file or folder directly out of it's location on the local drive and drop it into the left hand panel of Composer and it will instantly create a new source from that. fix the permissions as usual and package it up.
I know it's obvious but it took me quite some time to realise I could do it this way, much easier if your pretty familiar with what your trying to deploy....

I was able to d that with Firefox and Chrome but Flash was not working.. Once I had the license, I dragged into Casper admin and it has been very well behaved but Thank you for the "tip".