Ken-
Depends on what version of Casper you're using. If you're on 7, it should be a lot easier (though I haven't done it yet myself). All of my CS packaging has been on Casper 6 (both CS3 and CS4) and I documented - pretty step-by-step - the process that works for me here on the board. Search for a message with the title "Trials of packaging and distributing Adobe CS4."
That may get you in the right direction.
---
Jared F. Nichols
Desktop Engineer, Infrastructure & Operations
Information Services Department
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
244 Wood Street
Lexington, Massachusetts 02420
781.981.5436
I deploy the Casper way by adding the dmg's into Casper admin and scanning for adobe packages, then i install at first run and also have a self service policy to install as per users discretion
Worked fine for CS3 and CS4
Criss
Criss Myers
Senior Customer Support Analyst (Mac Services)
Apple Certified Technical Coordinator v10.5
LIS Business Support Team
Library 301
University of Central Lancashire
Preston PR1 2HE
Ex 5054
01772 895054
Along these same lines, does anyone have any suggestions for updating
acrobat? I don't know why Adobe doesn't make the Acrobat updates deployable
like the other CS updates.
--
Alan Benedict
?
Macintosh Technician
The Integer Group
O: 515-247-2738
C: 515-770-8234
http://www.integer.com
As part of my Adobe install process, which I said I’d get steps out a long time ago (sorry, might start having time this Nov), I actually have a standard composer package of the update. Now on 9.1.3.
So I basically install the base from my DMGs (as others do and have mentioned) and then I launch the application, make a beginning snapshot with composer, use the check for updates option within Acrobat to tie it into Adobe Updater (not necessary, but a lazy way to do it without downloading the updates from the website), install the updates, launch Acrobat, then take a differential snapshot and use that package last to lay over top.
Only way I’ve been able to do it since the Acrobat, do this for Reader as well, Pro stuff is NOT part of the standard updates design and can’t be pushed out with the JSS...at least to my knowledge.
Craig E
We tried the Composer snapshot before and after and somehow it missed
some items in the contents of Adobe Acrobat Pro.app. We tested this
package and you could not interact with PDF forms. As soon as you
would try and click in a field it would error. Went back to the mac
that made this image and received the same result. We first installed
the CS4 standard suite and ran all updates. Next we ran composer,
installed acrobat updates and ran composer again. This package failed.
I ended up using the before and after snapshot that failed - Deleted
the Adobe Acrobat Pro directory located in applications - went to a
working version of 9.1.3 and copied that adobe acrobat pro directory
into the composer sources directory. Recompiled and we were back in
business.
We were surprised that it did not break anything in CS4.
Dan
What's the strategy for deploying updates to the deployed CS3 and CS4
"Criss Myers" <CMyers at uclan.ac.uk> wrote:
suites? Is it best practice to create a pkg?
Or is it to run the Adobe Update app? On the later, is there a way for
Casper to "Silently" run the Adobe Update app? If so, what about
environments that have ISA proxy servers (that Adobe Update apps don't
play well with)?
Thanks,
Don
There are a couple of strategies that can be employed:
Create a differential package using Composer of the updates - load CSx
onto a machine, snap shot it, load the updates, create a diff package, then
use the diff package for the updates. Then, whenever new updates come out,
snap shot a computer that has CSx on it with your previous updates, lay down
the new updates, then create a diff package for those. In Casper Admin you
make sure that your CSx main package is set to a priority lower than your
updates. Of course your updates need to be in priority order according to
how they are created (i.e. CSxUpdate_April2009 would have a lower priority
than CSxUpdate_October2009).
Add the Adobe update packages directly to Casper Admin, indicate they
are Adobe updaters in Casper Admin, and then use a policy to push the
updates out. I have had some problems (although this was back with Casper 5
or maybe 6) where some Adobe installers were not recognized. Hence I use
strategy number 1.
Give your users admin permissions on their computers and let them run
Adobe Updater.
And of course, with option 1 and option 2 you can create Self Service
policies that allow users to run the Adobe updates that you create when they
have time.
Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com
The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475
On Oct 29, 2009, at 3:05 PM, Steve Wood wrote:
There are a couple of strategies that can be employed:
04arFPXaHlAbVSwSVzT6
Has this been tested? There have been a ton of patches released for
CS4 since its release, and the need for Silent Install for initial
deployment of CS4 has me concerned about using traditional pkg'ing
techniques for updates.
Acrobat Pro 9 (a beast on its own, bundled with CS4) has had 6 updates
so far:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=1&platform=Macintosh
The rest of CS4 has a ton of updates listed on this page:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/collection.jsp?collID=1&platform=Macintosh
...there are also Illustrator/Photoshop/Indesign updates that aren't
listed in either of those two pages.
2. Add the Adobe update packages directly to Casper Admin, indicate
they are Adobe updaters in Casper Admin, and then use a policy to
push the updates out. I have had some problems (although this was
back with Casper 5 or maybe 6) where some Adobe installers were not
recognized. Hence I use strategy number 1.
OK, I see in page 285 of the Casper Suite 7.1 admin manual it explains:
*Installing Adobe CS3/CS4 Updates*
"The Casper Suite allows you to deploy Adobe CS3 or CS4 updates
without repackaging them. Once Casper Admin identifies a DMG as an
updater, it can be deployed like any other package using either a
Policy or Casper Remote."
It would seem like you'd need to pull into Casper a few dozen updates
so they can each be pushed out individually. If this works, it's a
winner to me (at least until they fire all of the Adobe installer
developers responsible for this fiasco, and hire fresh blood who can
give us proper pkg installers <g>).
3. Give your users admin permissions on their computers and let
them run Adobe Updater.
Unfortunately that isn't an option for our clients. In most
environments that wouldn't be possible anyway because of the presence
of authenticating proxy servers:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/331/331931.html
"The Adobe Update Manager currently does not support downloading
updates from an authenticating proxy server. Customers who access the
internet using an authenticating Proxy Server will need to download
updates manually from the Adobe website."
And of course, with option 1 and option 2 you can create Self
Service policies that allow users to run the Adobe updates that you
create when they have time.
Sounds like a good option for some shops. In the shops we support,
we're trying to handle these kinds of things so there's no user
interaction, as unintrusive as possible.
Thanks again for the valuable feedback!
Don
This absolutely works for the CS4 patches, just dropping the downloaded ones
directly into the JSS. I use it as part of my install process.
Just install your Adobe CS4 base, run Adobe Updater to download the updates,
just don't install them, and put them into the JSS. I also make note of the
order that the Adobe Updater wants to install the patches.
A self-service policy to install CS4 performs a sequence of three different
policies called by a script. As a self-service it's nice because the user is
already logged in.
- First Adobe CS4 Base installs
- Second Adobe CS4 patches install
- Lastly all of my traditional composer packages lay over top for Reader and
Pro, installs PDF9 printer, and a recon cycle.
This is my basic process for FirstRun as well except for all of the
intricacies for making the patching part happen. What happens here is that a
script at the end of FirstRun is triggered that calls a policy that adds a
local user, installs an autologin package for that user, and then reboots
the system.
When the system reboots it auto logs on, a policy looking for that user is
triggered to perform the patches and lay over packages. Since a user is
logged in things are fairly reliable. At the end it removes the auto login
stuff, installs a startup item, and reboots again.
The startup item runs, deletes the user and home for patching, and runs a
recon.
Of course there are a myriad of scripts and policies for these two things to
work, but it does work. I had some issues for a little while with my
FirstRun install because a different policy was installing at FirstRun that
required a reboot so it would reboot mid FirstRun and then it was a nasty
loop since FirstRun never had the chance to delete itself. =)
I really do hope I have time to get this all typed up in greater detail.
Craig E
Yes, ala the Appke softwareupdate tool. Can't wait until Adobe cleans
house at their installer dev group. ;)
The other thing that I forgot to mention was a feature request I put in
regarding patching. I had asked for them to make an additional tab on your
Adobe install where you select the applications to install and input your
license code that had all the Adobe updaters listed, you could check them,
and they would get applied immediately after the main Adobe install would
run. This way the process is totally integrated into their processes.
Good idea? Bad idea? Thoughts?
Craig E
I put in a request a long time ago (probably verbally and I should submit
On 10/30/09 8:39 AM, "Ernst, Craig S." <ERNSTCS at uwec.edu> wrote:
formally) for the ability to "group" packages and scripts and then be able
to select the group for configurations or select it in Casper Remote. That
way, I could choose to install "Adobe CS4" and it would really mean 1.)
install CS4, 2.) apply every patch, 3.) run some custom setup scripts, etc.
This would be ideal for Microsoft apps too.
Right now, I'm putting everything into an "Install Adobe CS4" policy and
then calling that policy in a script after imaging.
--
William Smith
Technical Analyst
Merrill Communications LLC
(651) 632-1492
Great idea. I'd also like to see Casper intelligently sort the many
dozens of Adobe CS4 updates that we need to pull down and push out. So
we don't have to guess the order.
Don
You don't really need to guess the order...just run through an Adobe Updater
cycle once after a fresh install and observe the order it installs it in. =)
Craig E
Thats the usual process, but are we sure the install order doesn't
change when a new patch is released?
Nope...so you need to do it each time if you want to be sure. Sucks,
but...it's what we got.
This would all be moot if Adobe used a command line updater that we could
just trigger in the background...
