Simplifying Adobe CS5 and CS5.5 Administration with the Casper Suite

The Casper Suite provides a complete solution to administering Adobe products in the enterprise. In the past, Mac administrators have used the Casper Suite in combination with the Adobe Application Manager Enterprise Edition (AAMEE) to administer Adobe® Creative Suite® 5. With the releases of Adobe® Creative Suite® 5.5 and AAMEE version 2.0 comes the demand for an updated solution. A similar workflow can now be used to administer CS5 or CS5.5 using the Casper Suite and AAMEE 2.0.

Using this workflow, administrators can package and provision Adobe CS5 or CS5.5 for deployment. They can also automate Adobe's custom serialization method by deploying the Adobe command-line tool along with a serialization script. Coupled with the Casper Suite's reporting capabilities, serialization can help administrators deploy and track product licenses more effectively.

Mac administrators also have more options when deploying Adobe CS5 or CS5.5 updates with the Casper Suite. In addition to deploying Adobe updates using Adobe's silent installation technology, updates can be installed as they become available by setting up and deploying an internal Adobe update server.

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for deploying, serializing, reporting on, and updating CS5 or CS5.5 with the Casper Suite. Be sure to review the information in the "Requirements" section of the document before using these instructions.

Key principles:

• Deploying Adobe CS5 or CS5.5
• Serializing Adobe CS5 or CS5.5
• Reporting on Adobe CS5 or CS5.5
• Updating Adobe Adobe CS5 or CS5.5

Requirements

To deploy, serialize, report on and update Adobe CS5 or CS5.5, you must be running the Casper Suite v7.3 or later in your environment.

The following components are required to complete the instructions in this guide:

• Adobe Application Manager, Enterprise Edition 2.0 for the Mac platform
• Adobe Provisioning Toolkit for the Mac platform
• Adobe CS5 or CS5.5 installer media
• Access to the JAMF Software Server (JSS)
• Casper Admin
• Composer
• (Optional) Server for the Adobe Update Server
• (Optional) Adobe Update Server Setup Tool (AUSST) 2.0 for Mac

You should also be familiar with the following sections in the Adobe Creative Suite 5 and 5.5 Enterprise Deployment Guide:

• "Deployment Tools"
• "Deployment Packages"
• "Adobe Provisioning Toolkit Enterprise Edition"
• "Adobe Update Server Setup Tool"