Creative Cloud installation and licensing issues

[k9_cornwall_gov]

Hi,

I'm trying to get a sane answer to a question concerned Creative Cloud (CC) licensing and deployment in an enterprise environment.

I've been told that our current deployment model, where we deploy all the CC apps on a per-machine basis, is incompatible with Adobe's licensing model. Apparently this is because anybody can log onto those machine and use CC apps, even if they don't sign in with an Adobe ID.

I've been told that (starting now) we need to make a separate install package for each combination of apps in use by our 8000+ personnel.

Given that there are 16+ apps in the CC suite, that means over 65 *thousand* potential deployment packages (2^16). I've flat our said "no", this is a non-starter.

At *worst* I'd expect to have to package each of the 16 apps individually and deploy them on a per-machine basis depending on who logs in to that machine.

I am being thwarted by the fact that there is apparently no Adobe support email; the 24/7 "live chat" is closed (how often does a "24/7" service close, btw?); and no phone support is offered to CC users. Brilliant.

In fact the only support channel seems to be to post here.

Would it be possible for someone who deals with Enterprise Licensing to contact me?

Thanks

[Ned Murphy]

The 24/7 chat support is a mis-advertised option as they do not support it over weekends/holidays, and it could be iffy during off-business hours.  They should change that claim but they apparently don't mind it.  But chat support is available, as is phone support.  You just need to fiddle with it to get thru at times.

Contact support - For the link below click the Still Need Help? option in the blue area at the bottom and choose the chat or phone option...

Make sure you are logged in to the Adobe site, have cookies enabled, clear your cookie cache.  If it fails to connect try using a different browser.

Creative Cloud support (all Creative Cloud customer service issues)

http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/service-ccm.html ( http://adobe.ly/19llvMN )

[k9_cornwall_gov]

I don't think Phone Support will be an option no matter how many times I try... it says "Phone Support is not offered for your product".

So I'm assuming that if they mean what they've written there, that Creative Cloud users get no phone support.

I've tried Chrome and IE. Chrome doesn't work at all, IE keeps saying "Chat is currently closed." It's 13:00 UK time atm, so not yet business hours in the US. Will try later at about 15:00...

[Bani Verma]

Moving to Deployment for Creative Cloud for Team, Enterprise, & CS​

[alisterblack]

"Apparently this is because anybody can log onto those machine and use CC apps, even if they don't sign in with an Adobe ID."

- I'm not sure I understand how a user could use the applications without signing in with an Adobe ID? The only scenario this would apply would be if you were using a serial number. If you have an Enterprise ETLA then you would have a serial number, but not otherwise.

"I've been told that (starting now) we need to make a separate install package for each combination of apps in use by our 8000+ personnel."

- Again I'm not sure why you have been given this advice, I think it must be based on a misunderstanding. I think it would be useful if you could describe your environment in a bit more detail and the type of license you have (Team/Enterprise/Device License...).

Access to support depends upon the type of license you have. If you are an Enterprise Dashboard user you can access support via the Support tab of the dashboard, this allows you to open a ticket directly with support or access phone or chat support. Otherwise see https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

[k9_cornwall_gov]

I'm really *hoping* it's a misunderstanding.

Yes we use the Enterprise Dashboard, but this has been used by our Licensing Team predominantly, who talk to yourselves about licensing, and issue instructions to us (the Deployment Team).

I'm being told, repeatedly, that every combination of apps being used by our users needs to be packaged and deployed separately, and that these are the instructions given by yourselves.

And as I said before, for 16 apps, that's a theoretical max of 65,000 combinations/packages. I can't believe this is correct, which is why I'm coming to you here.

So yes, I would say we're using Serial Numbers, and have a specific # of licenses for each app. Making it more complex, each team will have licenses for a different combination of CC apps, depending on their requirements.

We can easily determine how many people use App N, so in the worst case I'd assume we need to make 16 packages, one for each app.

But my instructions start with making 60 packages (60 combinations of apps have been identified so far), with this number set to expand. It seems like madness.

Thanks for your help thus far; I would appreciate a final clarification from yourselves.

[alisterblack]

You can be added to the Enterprise Dashboard as a Support and/or Deployment admin. This will give you the ability to create support tickets and access useful Deployment tools. So, I would ask the current admins to give you those rights.

Enterprise Help | Administrative Roles

I would do that and set up a call between yourselves and Adobe support.

Essentially there is no way you should be expected to produce 65, 000 packages and I can see no reason why one package per app would not work for you.

There is no need to use Adobe ID's at all for serialized deployment. In fact doing so will break your serialization. Our advice is not to include the Creative Cloud Desktop Application with your package as this can tempt the user to sign in.

[k9_cornwall_gov]

Alister,

Thanks for your responses. Hopefully we can disentangle this a little.

This is the latest communication I've had with our Licensing Team, and I'm really struggling with it.

"the user get an invitation using email address to the dashboard this enable us to account for the users using the software and our licensing from the dashboard, the way our system is set up is different from others, the package is deployed to the user using SCCM, the user accepts the invitation to the dashboard allowing the user to use the software. We are still setting up the dashboard and need to claim our enterprise ID, this will stop anyone adding addition to their devices also there are policies and procedures being written to cover all this."

So are we running some kind of hybrid system, with both ETLA serial numbers *and* Adobe ID logins? This is what I'm being told. But nobody seems to understand it 100%.

[alisterblack · Accepted solution]

It sounds like the plan is to use 'Named User' deployment with Adobe ID's.

It is possible to use both - to have some users with serialized and others with Named User, but not for the same user.

How you deploy it makes no difference. When you build the package you either add the serial number or you don't (in which case the user needs to sign in.)

I think you would benefit from a call to explain this in more detail, feel free to send me a private message with your contact details and I can set something up.

[k9_cornwall_gov]

Hi Alister,

I have PM'd you my contact telephone number.

Looking at the Dashboard, I have worked a few things out. We appear to have both Named User and Serialised deployment packages, but the same user needs to use both I fear (not for the same product tho). Eg, Captivate 9 is a serialised package, Creative Cloud apps are Named (that I can tell).

For Named User applications, I am being told that we need to deploy apps individually and not as a bundle. I can see why this would be the case for Serialised apps, but for Named apps, surely it doesn't matter if we deploy all of them - the Named User licensing scheme means they can only use the apps they are allowed to use? Unless we are not using the system correctly, and have given all users permissions to all applications, which would defeat the purpose of the system, no?

For serialised apps I can totally understand that we need to only distribute those to the correct, licensed users, as we will only have a certain number of licenses, and any machine we deploy to is a license accounted for (I suspect, this is guesswork!).

[k9_cornwall_gov]

Just wanted to say, thanks Alister for all your help including this afternoon, was very useful and I think we've got this sussed now!