AAMEE + 8.21 + Self Service = WTF?

[Matt]

So I made my package using the AAMEE tool and imported it into Casper Admin. Setup a self service policy. Click on it, and it starts to install. 5 seconds later the install is complete, with nothing installed.

HELP!

--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group

[bentoms]

Yes a snapshot will work as it doesn't check running processes. It just dumps the files down.

This may or may not cause issues.

Preferably use the pkg.. Maybe prompting the user to logout/close app before continuing.

Or cache & force logout with installation at logout?

Regards,

Ben.

[nessts]

I have been doing all my CS installs at login using an AAMEE pkg, using jamfhelper to keep the users from starting anything else, and 70% of the time the install is successful. 50% of the time installing from self serve is successful, and almost never does the CS5 update package we made run without an error, but it installs everything but subsequent installs show all the updates already installed.
Its not perfect but AAMEE is at least 100x better than anything else from an ease of setup anyhow.
and we use the same package at image time and it is in the 95+% success rate there.

--
Todd Ness
Technology Consultant/Non-Windows Services
Americas Regional Delivery Engineering
HP Enterprise Services

[Matt]

I think the biggest issue I have is we want Adobe to be all Self Service. What is the best way to make it fool proof?

--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group

[nessts]

the only fool proof method I have found is to copy the AAMEE pkg to the desktop and quit all apps and install it, watch the logs and it never fails

--
Todd Ness
Technology Consultant/Non-Windows Services
Americas Regional Delivery Engineering
HP Enterprise Services

[nessts]

which by the way sucks and wastes my time. :) 150 installs though and I have only had to reset self serve a couple of times for 4-5 people after they tried once and the every30/login method failed. and only 3 others have I had to actually do the manual install. so my %s may have been off, it just feels like everybody is having problems.

--
Todd Ness
Technology Consultant/Non-Windows Services
Americas Regional Delivery Engineering
HP Enterprise Services

[Matt]

Im thinking of maybe forcing it to install at logout and making the machine logout and restart.

Just don't want any hiccups with Adobe :D

--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group

[rockpapergoat]

off topic: use munki for this. it works every time.

i just deployed 500+ machines this week with office 2011, a bunch of educational apps, and adobe cs 5.5, and they all installed without a single issue.

[Matt]

I'm not currently running Munki. Will this run side by side with Casper without any issues?

--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group

[Matt]

I just looked up Munki it requires OSX it appears. I am going to steer clear of that for now (or anything dependent on OSX due to political reasons).

I was thinking how about running a preflight that restarts, then have the policy triggered on logout.

Time isn't that big of a deal at this point as I have most users restart after install adobe stuff anyways.

--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group

[rockpapergoat]

yes, and you may not want to use casper for application deployment after trying munki. they can coexist, though.

[rockpapergoat]

the "server" side is any web server on any platform. the client side tools used to populate the repository were meant to run on os x, so that shouldn't be an issue.

[nessts]

why would you pay for casper and then use munki? I think paying for casper we should get them to make things work better if they don't work as expected don't you?

--
Todd Ness
Technology Consultant/Non-Windows Services
Americas Regional Delivery Engineering
HP Enterprise Services

[donmontalvo]

We've been using AAMEE for deployment at imaging time and via manual trigger (push). We haven't had any failures after 400+ deployments (split between deployment at imaging time and deployment via trigger push).

The only problems we've seen with AAMEE packages, not sure if it's a JSS issue, is the PKG installer sometimes doesn't copy entirely to the JSS via Casper Admin...or, doesn't replicate properly to the other Distribution Points. So the PKG results in "Adobe Setup" errors and failures.

Our workaround for these PKG issue is a bit tedious, but 100% reliable...we copy to the master Distribution Point first via Casper Admin...then we immediately overwrite it and the copies on the replica Distribution Points by manually copying to the shares. Then when Casper Admin launches the next time it creates the BOM and we're all set.

Don

[rockpapergoat]

true, but i like using what works without jumping through hoops.

most of my clients can't afford or just don't use casper. for everything else, i use munki and other open source tools.

i'm only suggesting munki as an alternative. jamf says casper should work with AAME packages, so if there's something to work out there, it's up to jamf and adobe to resolve.

[rockpapergoat]

the local install logs (both under /var/log and adobe's install log under /Library/Logs) should tell you what happened.

if the AAME pkg is installing any browser components, or even if it isn't, the adobe installer expects all browsers to be closed and will fail if they're running.

[Matt]

gRrr….!!!!!!!!!!!!
--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group

[Matt]

Very cryptic errors telling me preinstall scripts could not run. Is it probably worth it to just forget AAMEE and just use composer.

Why is adobe a pain in the butt!!!

--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group

[rockpapergoat]

i've used AAME with no trouble many times, so do whatever makes sense to you.

[RobertHammen]

I do exactly this and it works fine for me. Much less painful than creating Composer snapshots.
On Jul 29, 2011, at 10:54 AM, Matthew Lee wrote:

Does the AAMEE package work if installed locally?
Pushed via ARD?
Executed by the installer command locally?

What version of Casper? Via AFP/SMB or http? Override the policy default and try the other method. I'm using http and it works fine in Casper 8 and later, previous to v8 had a lot of issues with corrupt/unusable http downloads (a bullet point in the fix list for v8).

[Matt]

Let me try HTTP. HTTP never worked in the previous version of Casper.

--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group

[nessts]

is the package installing from the master distribution point or a replica? I often forget to force replication before installing packages on the test boxes that don’t mount the master.

--
Todd Ness
Technology Consultant/Non-Windows Services
Americas Regional Delivery Engineering
HP Enterprise Services

[Matt]

- Master
- I packaged it doing a composer snapshot and it works perfectly!

--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group

[Matt]

For us we have to use what we bought.

Casper has been fine for everything except Self Service. Its always very hit or miss.

--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group

[stevewood]

With CS 4 I have been using an install created using the JAMF method of
On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 2:51 PM, Don Montalvo <donmontalvo at gmail.com> wrote:
pointing to the installer and telling Casper that it is an Adobe installer. I then select the apps I want and input the serial number. I've been using
this installer with very few problems for about a year or so. I install
this using two policies, one to install the suite (Design Premium), the
second to install all updates (updaters dropped into the JSS with the
exception of Acrobat updaters). I typically tag these policies to run at
logout (updater runs via trigger). The only time I've seen problems with
this installer has been when there are prior Adobe products on the machine I
sometimes have problems, but it is rare that I have problems.

With CS5, and CS 5.5 I've used the AAME created PKG files and I've had no
problem installing these. I use a policy set to logout on this one as well,
and it works perfect every time.

Of course when doing the logout installs I use our jamfHelper lock screen to
stop the users from shutting their laptop lids or forcing the power down.

Acrobat updates I do (for 9.x) following the method Greg Neagle laid out on
his blog Managing OSX (http://managingosx.wordpress.com/). Greg wrote a
Python script that works wonders (
http://managingosx.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/silent-installs-for-acrobat-pro-9-updates/)..) I create a folder inside of Library that is for IT use. Inside of there I
create another folder and drop all of the updates into it along with the
Python script. I use composer to package that up and deploy to the
machines. I then use a Bash script to call the Python script for each of
the update DMG files. I've had very few problems with this method.

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

[Matt]

Steve would you mind telling me how you did that in the Policies tab.

I tried doing this and all the machine did was logged out on me… nothing else happened.

:(

--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group

[stevewood]

I'm assuming you are referring to the chaining of the policies together for
On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 3:19 PM, Matthew Lee <Matt.Lee at fox.com> wrote:
CS4? Set the policy like you normally would, choosing your scope and
package to install, then on the Advanced tab in the Run box put the trigger
for the update policy. In my case that box has this:

jamf policy -trigger cs4up

Make sure you put the machines that you are scoping your CS install in the
scope for the update policy or it won't work. You can also set the update
policy to Ongoing just to make sure you don't run into an issue where the
policy ran in the past and won't run again.

In the update policy I have this in the Run command:

killall jamfHelper

That way the machine will kill the lock screen before restarting.

That's basically it. If you need more detail I can give it to you.

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

[RobertHammen]

I do a ton of stuff with Self Service.
On Jul 29, 2011, at 3:02 PM, Matthew Lee wrote:

Can you screencap the AAMEE options you're using?
Show the policy plan for the SS policy that's failing?

Must be something different/unique about your setup that's precluding it from working as it's 100% here, across 8.1 and now 8.21.

--Robert

[Matt]

Actually do you think you can screen cap your policy screen for me?

I just deleted them in frustration and started over.

Would be totally helpful!!!!
--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group