[Casper] CS3 Strategies

Mon Jun 16 06:18:47 PDT 2008

I'm coming to this thread a bit late but hope to spare others some  
pain by contributing.  Before I do that though I'd like to say that  
the Adobe CS3 installers and updaters have given me the most grief of  
any application I have encountered in over 14 years of system  
administration.  First year Computer Science under-graduates wouldn't  
make some of the elementary mistakes in design that Adobe make.  If I  
ever meet an Adobe executive I'll be requesting a week of my life back  
please!

Like others I could only get this to work by removing all traces of  
existing Adobe installations prior to installing CS3.  If there was  
any trace of CS2 or CS3 the installation attempts failed.  Many parts  
of the suite use different updaters, with no consistency in the  
software used or the naming scheme.  I could only get this to work by  
creating individual Casper packages of each update using Composer,  
then carefully considering where the dependencies between different  
installers lay and modifying 'Priority' accordingly.  Finally I  
layered everything together in a CS3 config and deployed that.

Why Adobe can't get with the 21st Century and create package  
installers for all these apps is beyond me.  Adobe need to improve  
this in CS4 but I'm not holding my breath.

Cheers,

Wylie

On 13 Jun 2008, at 20:30, Ernst, Craig S. wrote:

> Hello Everyone,
>
> Great responses, and I’ll add on my two cents for what it’s worth.
>
> We started our deployment using the standard Composer packaging  
> process, which took a few attempts to get it to work. JAMF at that  
> time hadn’t implemented the Adobe CS3 installer framework at this  
> point so you didn’t have much choice. As John Brenner mentions there  
> are differences in the Acrobat line of product from PPC and Intel.  
> Reader was particularly fun if you wanted to deploy that...if you  
> install Reader when CS3 is not present it installs totally different  
> from when you install Reader with CS3 present, and again two  
> separate packages for Intel and PPC. The canned large package worked  
> fine, but then you have to update that package as time goes.  
> Benefit, it tended to be a faster install with less failures.
>
> Enter the Adobe CS3 framework into the JSS. Sweet, I don’t have to  
> make a pack, I just upload a DMG and the DMG updaters. It’s too bad  
> Adobe pretty much sucked on their part of the deal, or are very  
> inconsistent. JAMF has done an excellent job of dealing with the  
> different types of setup.app different applications came with. So  
> now we use this method. And again, people have pretty much nailed  
> all the key points. If existing software is there it can flip out.  
> The fact that the software isn’t licensed at first run is a known  
> issue by Adobe, but from what I know they don’t intend to do  
> anything about it? And many of the updates we have do hang or never  
> end, particularly on some of the older iMac systems. I’ve been  
> trying to sort out which ones are more of a culprit, like flashlight  
> perhaps, amongst others. Yes, running Photoshop first is the best  
> option.
>
> The only thing beyond this that we’ve done is to better deal with  
> mixed suites of CS3, for example Design Premium and Web Standard for  
> example. I could be wrong here, but once you start mixing  
> serialization things tend to break. Let’s say you want to deploy CS3  
> Premiere Pro later, with a different serialization. That may break  
> your previous installs. We purchased one set of the Adobe Master  
> Collection so we had two things: 1) A serialization number to use  
> everywhere that encompassed all applications so no conflicts 2)  
> access to download electronically the single DMG file of Master  
> Collection so all of the CS3 applications where in one JSS Adobe  
> Install. I’m not sure everyone gets access to the electronic  
> downloads, but if you do this don’t try to download it from the  
> page, don’t try to download it with their accelerator software on a  
> Windows machine...just use the directions for a regular ole FTP  
> client and wait.
>
> We still purchase Design Premium and Web Standard licenses that we  
> track usage for with KeyServer, and when I make the installer in  
> Casper Admin for Design Premium, naturally I only deploy the proper  
> components to comply.
>
> Since we started using that things have worked well, and the only  
> thing we have left plaguing us are getting the updates to not hang.  
> By the time that gets sorted out, if at all, Adobe Creative Suite 4  
> will be out with the same issues I’m sure.
>
> Craig Ernst
> Systems Management & Configuration
> ----------------------------------
> University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
> Learning & Technology Services
> 105 Garfield Ave
> Eau Claire, WI 54701
> Phone: (715) 836-3639
> Fax: (715) 836-6001
> ----------------------------------
> ernstcs at uwec.edu
>
>
>
> On 6/13/08 6:11 AM, "Paul Austin" <paul.austin at wachovia.com> wrote:
>
> Hoping to tap the vast wealth of knowledge that is in this group....
>
> My company has finally purchased CS3 and I am looking for the best  
> strategies for deployment as part of an initial configuration. I  
> have been testing for several days with mixed results. Using the CS3  
> methods in Casper admin to create a deployment package seems to only  
> function part of the time. I end up delivering CS3 that wants the  
> License key on first run. (Note: I am using Design Premium and an  
> open license). The time it takes to deliver is also too long for my  
> liking. I have also been experimenting with delivering CS3 in a  
> policy after the initial image delivery. Results are also mixed. I  
> know I am late to the CS3 game, but how are you guys doing your  
> deployments?
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Paul Austin
> Wachovia
> Information Technology
> Enterprise Strategy and Design
> 704-427-0903
> paul.austin at wachovia.com
>
>
> :
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