Inspiration 9 and Self Service

[bozemans]

We are attempting to put our "site licensed" version of Inspiration 9 on Self Service(9.6) so we can make available for our students. I made a package and a .dmg with Casper Composer(9.6) but both failed. I punched in all of the "serial numbers" on the package creation, as well. Any ideas how I can get this to work? Has anyone else attempted to put this application on Self Service?

[rderewianko]

are you having casper do FEU upon install? Chances are the serial #'s are stored somewhere in the user's profile.

[Chris_Hafner]

I am distributing Inspiration 9.2 via, self-service OR Casper Imaging depending on circumstances. I have to go back and look at exactly how I set that up. I did package it using composer (After applying the license credentials). We do not have to use FET or FUT as I installed the application as the computers admin user and adjusted the permissions accordingly.

I've got a few things I'm in the middle of but I don't mind going back and documenting that for you. We're also on JSS 9.61

[damienbarrett]

What exactly failed? The installation itself, or did it install but the licensing didn't hold?

If my memory serves correctly, there is a license file called "Inspiration NOS" at the root of the Inspiration folder that needs to be included along with the application for your site licensing to work. This file is generated when you serialize Inspiration on your build machine. Be sure it's included in your .pkg or .dmg when you package with Composer.

[bozemans]

When using the .dmg version on Self Service I can see the download start and then halfway through it quits and states that it fails to download. I have included the verbose of an attempt via terminal. Here is the line that addresses the actual download, though.

C17MXFWFG085:~ admin$ sudo jamf policy -id 150 -verbose verbose: Checking for an existing instance of this application...
Checking for policy ID 150... verbose: Checking for active connection on interface "Thunderbolt Ethernet"... verbose: Found active connection on "Thunderbolt Ethernet"... verbose: The Management Framework Settings are up to date. verbose: Found 1 matching policies. verbose: Removing any cached policies for this trigger. verbose: Parsing servers... verbose: Parsing Policy Inspiration 9 (150)... verbose: Parsing Policy Inspiration 9 (150)...
Executing Policy Inspiration 9... verbose: Starting install...
Downloading Inspiration 9.2.pkg...
This package is a PKG or an MPKG, and the index.bom file is not found. Attempting to open the package as a flat package...
Downloading http://192.168.8.97/Packages/Inspiration%209.2.pkg... verbose: Determining package type... verbose: Installing an Apple package... Installing Inspiration 9.2... Installation failed. The installer reported: installer: Package name is Inspiration 9.2
installer: Installing at base path /
installer: The install failed (The Installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.) verbose: Removing local copy... Running Recon... verbose: Timeout: 10 verbose: Checking availability of https://jamf.grahamisd.com:8443/... verbose: The JSS is available.

Any help would be great...I'm new at this and just attempting to keep my head above the water line. Thank you all for your help and expertise.

[bozemans]

damienbarrett
If my memory serves correctly, there is a license file called "Inspiration NOS" at the root of the Inspiration folder that needs to be included along with the application for your site licensing to work. This file is generated when you serialize Inspiration on your build machine. Be sure it's included in your .pkg or .dmg when you package with Composer.

Do you recall the steps to access and make the change on the .dmg?

[damienbarrett]

YMMV, but I've had issues with spaces in my package names and when the policy pulls the .pkg via HTTP. You can try a few things:

1) rename the package to have no spaces in the name. Example: Inspiration92.pkg
2) in the policy, force AFP instead of HTTP. Policy -> Options -> Package -> Distribution point -> specific server -> check the box that says "Force AFP"

[bozemans]

Made those changes and it still won't work. Here is the verbose for this attempt.
Any ideas....

verbose: Checking for an existing instance of this application...
Checking for policy ID 150... verbose: Checking for active connection on interface "Thunderbolt Ethernet"... verbose: No active connection on "Thunderbolt Ethernet"... verbose: The Management Framework Settings are up to date. verbose: Found 1 matching policies. verbose: Removing any cached policies for this trigger. verbose: Parsing servers... verbose: Parsing Policy Inspiration 9 (150)... verbose: Parsing Policy Inspiration 9 (150)...
Executing Policy Inspiration 9... Mounting district.local (1xx.xxx.x.xx) to /Volumes/CasperShare... verbose: Result of mount attempt: verbose: Result code of mount attempt: 0 verbose: Starting install... verbose: Determining package type... verbose: Installing an Apple package... Copying Inspiration 9.2... Installing Inspiration 9.2... Installation failed. The installer reported: installer: Package name is Inspiration 9.2
installer: Installing at base path /
installer: The install failed (The Installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.) verbose: Removing local copy... Running Recon...

[bozemans]

Ok, made some more changes on the name of the .dmg and it installed and then I restarted the client laptop. The download was successful and shows up on the verbose as being placed in the /Applications folder. However when I attempt to open the app it tells me I can not open or it will damaged or incomplete.

[bozemans]

It can't open because it "may be damaged or incomplete"....I bet it is missing the SS#...But I don't know where to find that file to fix on the .dmg

[Chris_Hafner · Accepted solution]

I just rebuilt the Inspiration 9.2.2 installer to check this for you. Well... I kind of needed to anyways I suppose. ;-)

Since this is an institutionally owned license, we need to be prepared to remove it. Because of that, we package the file using the permissions from our administrative user and the following file locations:

/Applications/Inspiration 9.app
/Users/admin/Library/Preferences/com.inspiration.inspiration.plist (Possibly unnecessary but I haven't taken a moment to check)
/Users/admin/Library/Preferences/Inspiration Software/

We've maintained permissions via Composer (Owned by Admin, group is staff). Packaged it as a .dmg (So we can index and remove). This one was a super simple work flow. Start composer, begin snapshot, install, serialize, complete the snapshot and clean out unnecessary files (The final list is what you see above), then upload via Casper Admin, Index the file and create a policy to test via AFP. I do need to point out that we do not use HTTP downloads.

[bozemans]

So, what unnecessary files do I clean out? Am I only to see the list that you have here in this response or is this what I "clean out". Pardon my lack of understanding.

[bozemans]

Ok, so I think I have it figured out. Deleted some files on the Casper Composer side...but if I did that part wrong...I can start from scratch and do it all over again...

The list you have is all I should see in the .dmg...

Here goes nothing....

[bozemans]

Chris and Damien,

Thank you both for your help with this task. I was able to resolve this issue with both of you helping out. I made sure the name of the .dmg didn't have spaces or "." and I "cleaned" out the package source in Casper Composer.

"Have a drink on me" tonight...just one though....

[Chris_Hafner]

When you capture a normal snapshot with composer, it simply lists any files that have been created during the 'snapshot' period. So, if you JUST install Inspiration and don't do anything else at all then you probably only have the "Saved Application State" and com.apple.help.plist showing up as potential, unnecessary 'extras'. This just means that the client computer either already has those files or will create those files as needed. In some cases (Not this one) overwriting certain files on a client computer could have nasty consequences. Think of packaging firefox and overwriting an existing users profile (hence deleting their bookmarks, etc.)

With some other snapshots you could end up seeing all sorts of unnecessary files that were created or modified because you ran software updates, restarted the computer or copied an installer package to the machines desktop during the installation of your software. In these cases you'll see those files listed in composer.

When I say 'clean out' I simply mean that you may want to delete certain files from composer before you complete the package so they are not included in your final .pkg/.dmg.

In the case of Inspiration here's how I created it. You'll see some of the things I do to prevent errant files form being created during my 'snapshot':

1) Copy the installer to a clean computer (one that doesn't have Inspiration on it) while running in the administrator account I use on all units here.
2) Copy composer and a text file with my license information onto the target computers desktop 3) Open the text file and copy my license info so that it's already in the clipboard
4) Open the installer window for Inspiration
5) Open another window and navigate to the applications folder. (So I have these all open and on screen BEFORE the snapshot begins)
6) Open Composer and start a new snapshot
7) Drag Inspiration into the Applications folder. 8) Open Inspiration from the Applications folder I already had open
9) Paste in the license info when the licensing window pops up in Inspiration (Which I had already copied to the clipboard)
10) Close Inspiration
11) End the 'snapshot' by clicking "Create Package Source"
12) Delete any 'unnecessary' files (In this case the two items I've mentioned above)
13) CHECK PERMISSIONS and fix anything that needs fix'n
14) Build as .dmg (again, so I can index and remove easily).

Doing things this way I also help prevent the creation of several extra files that may need to be cleaned out by simply ensuring that I don't do ANYTHING on the computer at all unless it's necessary for the installation.

[Chris_Hafner]

... heh, this is why I should check the thread in between posts. I'm glad you got that sorted!

[bozemans]

Are you kidding me....I'm using this 14 point plan for the rest of my career! :-)