CS5 Deployments

[Kedgar]

Hello,

Sorry, I have not needed to look into CS5 until recently. I assumed that the latest JSS upgrade would have had support for CS5 Adobe Installs, however it seems to think my disk image is CS3 or 4.

I have been bitten pretty bad by packaging CS4 with Composer. How are you guys currently doing it?

Thanks,
Ken

[Kedgar]

I wonder if this would work:
Create the installer with Adobe's AAMEE <-- reminds me of a Microsoft acronym
Create a policy to cache the resulting package to an end-user's computer
Create a policy to run a script running the installer command and removing the cached package afterwards
Install any available updates (wonder if this works for CS5... fun stuff

Obviously this will only work with a logged in computer with no conflicting apps open. Will most likely be doing some testing this week or next. What a pain!

Thanks,
Ken

[tlarkin]

if you do this post image in your work flow I can give you example code to automate log in but when I tried doing manual trigger policies with Adobe CS4 they failed miserably. So you might have to set the policy to run at log in via Casper and not manually trigger it. Just let me know.

[ernstcs]

I've downloaded the ESD (Electronic Software Download) of CS5 Master
Collection and deploy it just fine through Casper, like CS3 and CS4 before
it. I have not tried any updaters if any exist yet. I have not had to launch
Photoshop to serialize the entire suite, so that part was worked out. You
can launch any of the suite apps after install without getting prompted.

Since the 7.21 version doesn't officially support CS5 yet, that's the only
reason it says a CS3/CS4 installer. Once they truly feel comfortable saying
it works then I'm sure it will say CS5.

My only catch has been that Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 is not installed as part of
this suite as it has been with CS4 in the past. I've had to create a
separate package of that software, or used the CS4 Master Collections
Acrobat Pro 9 installer where I can. I say where I can because I have yet to
get the CS4 installer to not hang on Adobe AIR on 10.6.3/4, so the separate
package works best at this point.

Maybe CS6 will have everything work as expected.

Craig E

[ernstcs]

I forgot to mention that using the Master Collection to create deployments
of the sub suites works fine. We actually deploy Design Premium, and then a
trimmed down Dreamweaver and Photoshop only packages.

This is why I'll highly encourage anyone who does large deployments and uses
software like key server for concurrent licensing, buy at least one copy of
the master collection to use that key and then purchase the ESD of the
software for all your deployments.

Craig E

[tlarkin]

Craig,

Last school year I tried using the ESD version of CS4 Design Premium to create a Casper policy to install it, and it would always crash and error out half way through. I ended up just doing manual installs. Do you know, are there any instaup2date scripts like in instaDMG to create an updated disk image of Adobe Suite?

I need to revisit this soon, and fix it for this school year. Even though manual installs were not that bad, they were a pain. Also, since 90% of our users are laptops, pushing it out over wireless really isn't an option.

thanks

tom

[RobertHammen]

I used the Adobe Application Manager, Enterprise Edition (AAMEE) to "convert" the Adobe volume license install media into a pseudo-pkg. I say "pseudo" because On Jul 6, 2010, at 12:45 PM, Kenneth Edgar wrote:
it's not really a true package - the payload is compressed and encapsulated into one of the package scripts (and this leads to requiring lots of free disk space, like 3x-4x package size, as things are copied/moved around during the install).

Said .pkg installed fine via ARD but one portion of the install (relating to InCopy plugins for InDesign CS5) did not install correctly when I copied the .pkg into Casper and created a a Self Service policy for deployment. The InCopy plugins were corrupt (larger than they should have been) - simply copying them from a "good" install worked around the issue temporarily (I got a phone call at 10 p.m. stating that the customer needed to output a CS5 document ASAP - did this all remotely in a couple of hours, but I had exposure to the AAMEE betas since January).

I subsequently overrode the policy defaults (I usually use http for distribution, since I have clients all over the Internet) to force an AFP connection for this deployment - and that worked successfully.

I expect we'll hear more from JAMF at some point in the near future about CS5, but it can be done.

Just be aware that AAMEE can't currently install if no user is logged into the system (classified as a bug by Adobe, and why the Mac AAMEE is labeled as "pre-release"). It also can't install as part of the imaging process (i.e. via NetBoot, installing to a volume it's not booted from). Adobe doesn't see that as a problem, but many others disagree.

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/creativesuite/enterprisedeployment.html

Hope this helps,

--Robert

Robert Hammen
rhlist1 at hammen.org

[Bukira]

I have no issues with cs4 using casters method (no composer packages) but I've not done cs5 as it's a totally different deployment method now

Criss

Sent from my iPad

[#9]

That won't work according to Adobe's auditors. They are not very proficient
on understanding their own apps and suites, and are looking for items left
behind. Your installers from a Master Collection may be leaving a hint that
Master Collection is the installed license and cause you to be out of
compliance.

Not that your process is wrong, but it's not aligned to Adobe's auditing
processes and reporting. The rule of thumb as we understand it, is that you
must use the proper media.

Julius

[ernstcs]

I have barely had time to do testing as it is right now so I’m not certain what other options there are, Tom.

I do know the Master Collection installer was smaller for CS5 from CS4, but that could have been because it lacked Acrobat Pro. =)

I’ll have more time to look next week...

Craig E

On 7/6/10 2:59 PM, "Thomas Larkin" <tlarki at kckps.org> wrote:

Craig,

Last school year I tried using the ESD version of CS4 Design Premium to create a Casper policy to install it, and it would always crash and error out half way through. I ended up just doing manual installs. Do you know, are there any instaup2date scripts like in instaDMG to create an updated disk image of Adobe Suite?

I need to revisit this soon, and fix it for this school year. Even though manual installs were not that bad, they were a pain. Also, since 90% of our users are laptops, pushing it out over wireless really isn't an option.

thanks

tom

[ernstcs]

Don’t really care. If someone from Adobe is on this list they can come talk to me about it then. If their own auditors can’t figure things out then I don’t really feel it’s a valid audit.

As long as Key Server says this number of Application X are open and I tell Key Server we have X number of this Suite and these Point products to cover those instances, there isn’t an issue. If we go over we buy more. As long as the actual applications not licensed themselves are not loaded on the systems, the remaining Master Collection apps not in Design Premium, there is also no issue. The only thing there is the key I used in the licensing database and the installer logs that reference Master Collection.

It’s easy enough to change out if I need to use the actual design premium installer and key. We had to do the master collection installer/key route in many cases because if we wanted to install different suite portions the license database would flip out. I wanted design premium and then install production premium. The license database would do something that stopped what was just in Design premium to no longer work. Same with design premium with web standard later to get Contribute. If you had the Master Collection key in there everything worked, and you could install other portions later without that issue. I have NOT tried this issue with CS5, yet.

I appreciate your concern.

Craig E

[#12]

Don't mistake my point, we don't drive the audits from Adobe, they do. I've
through a 7 month audit process, where we did hat we know is right. At the
end of the day you need to have your legal team review your CLP and help you
figure how to comply with Adobe's license ­ it's not the other way around.

--missing content--

install anything but the Master Collection, ditto for every Suite.

G=B9luck

[#13]

Hi,

Just felt I had to chime in here. I don't disagree with what the auditors are saying, but I was on the beta for AAMEE and I explained that I install the suites via Master Collection and no one from Adobe said a word. The reason I do it is because we get a call to install After Effects on a certain machine for short periods of time and Adobe's very odd serial number database made it hard to roll out over a "real" suite.

This type of scenario was explained to Adobe during the beta. They took a lot of flack from other beta testers about what they had provided.

After a year of saying things will get better, running the blog, asking all the right questions they gave us an application that then gives us a file that ends .pkg, and that isn't a real .pkg. A year well spent! Adobe asked what tools were being used by enterprises to install software and no doubt Casper was mentioned. What they didn't grasp was, use standard installer technology and a decent delivery system will be happy to use those files.

I had trouble installing over CS4 with the Adobe installer let alone make a package.

My plan for CS5 is the same as CS4.

Use Composer to snap the machine.

Install CS5

Remove all the applications from the package

Call this remain package - cs5_required_files

Then make drag and drop packages from all the applications so I can install them one at a time and roll out extra applications as required. It also means if an installation fails I know exactly where I got to in the install.

I wish JAMF luck working with Adobe on this!!!!

Best wishes

Michael

[rdagel]

We to installed cs4 from the master collection. We mainly use the design
standard. The Master collection installer also installs parts of other apps
only when you ask it to just install what is in the design standard. It
would put plugins and what not for other programs on the computer so their
would be an After Effects folder and inside would be a broken app that only
had one or two decoders in it. The problem was, when recon would run it
would see this as an install of After Effect. I had to write a script that
would delete everything but what was needed for design standard. This did
the trick

I am seeing the same thing when trying to install only the design standard
apps from the master collection in CS5. You think they would have fixed it.

Rich

Rich Dagel
Senior Technology Specialist

Landor Associates
1001 Front Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
United States
415 365 3933
http://www.landor.com
Rich.Dagel at landor.com


[#15]

On Deployment:
I use Composer (New & Modified scan) using Adobe Master Collection ESD images. I have packages for Acrobat 9, CS3, 4, & 5. I also built a package that contains a single Master License files (/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PCD/) for all of the above suites. This has been working almost flawlessly for me.

On Licensing:
All of our machines: Mac and PC, upload monthly recon data to our parent company's JSS, separate from our own JSS (this should be true of you as well, Rich). This is important because our Adobe audit gets processed from the information. So our JSS application inventory, and not some obscure file of what ESD image is installed, is how Adobe is charging us for what suites we use.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Adweek's 2009 Global Agency of the Year


[ernstcs]

We did the same, a clean up script at then to remove what was not needed.

[donmontalvo]

Version 1.0 was released, no need to have a user logged in anymore. Hoping we can be ready to deploy CS5 soon. The natives are getting restless.

Don

[bentoms]

Hmm.. I’m using the ADBEMSTCS4_LS4 media & am only seeing these “extra’s” when installing it as design premium in French (fr_FR) NOT English (en_GB).

So I’m just about to write a tidy up script.

Ben Toms
IT Support Analyst GREY Group
The Johnson Building, 77 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8JS
T: +44 (0) 20-3037-3819 |
Main: +44 (0) 20 3037 3000 | IT Helpdesk: +44 (0) 20 3037 3883

[pbachuwa]

So you're not using Casper with the built in Adobe tool to push the packages? You are doing a new and modified snapshot and then install your packages and then build the package? How are you doing a snapshot on Acrobat from the suites to run standalone when they require more apps to run like Photoshop?

Patrick Bachuwa
Client Technical Services
Sears Holdings Corporation
Michigan Campus
3000 W. 14 Mile Road
Royal Oak, MI  48073-1717
Phone: 248 637-0350
Patrick.Bachuwa at searshc.com

[talkingmoose]

Agreed.
On 7/6/10 3:30 PM, "Julius Wilpon" <julius.wilpon at pearson.com> wrote:

This is definitely for the lawyers within each company to decide and NOT
for IT administrators to decide. This is a business risk and not a
technical risk.

Our own licensing and compliance group has pretty much told us to use the
correct serial numbers, which means we must use the correct installers.
It's a PITA but at the end of the day we've agreed to Adobe's licensing
terms. That's why we do it this way.

Now, would I prefer to use a single installer for the variety of installs
we do? Damn skippy.

--

William Smith
Technical Analyst
Merrill Communications LLC
(651) 632-1492

[taugust04]

FYI JAMF has updated their diff files in Composer 7.21 to now support building CS5 packages. Just update them from the file menu and you will get the new one.

- Ted