Adobe Creative Cloud Licensing change effective May 8th, and how FNMS ARL handles it going forward

[kyle_wolff]

Hello,

Adobe changed the way Creative Cloud is licensed on May 8th, effectively changing what a Creative Cloud license covers from all older versions of components, to only the two most recent major versions being covered.

So effectively, one would be out of compliance until they reviewed their Adobe CC components deployed and ensured that throughout the environment, they only had the latest components version or the previous components version (N-1).

Since i'm on the technical side of things and not the licensing side, i'm trying to get a grasp of how this change should be handled going forward. My thought is that the current version and previous version of [Creative Cloud Suite (2019), Creative Cloud Suite (2018)] and their components would be added to the Application Evidence to the generic Creative Cloud (Unspecified) application in FNMS, and you would just license that Unspecified application and anything outside of that would equal out of compliance.

However, is this the proper way to handle this Adobe licensing change going forward? Or do Flexera customers have to manually edit/change their Creative Cloud license in the FNMS system every time there is a updated version of Creative Cloud so it reports compliance accurately? Did Flexera know about this licensing change prior to May 8th 2019? Was the global ARL updated yet to reflect this change? If not , is it being worked on? Is what I listed in my previous paragraph as a workaround of how to manage this going forward how it should be done? Or does Flexera recommend something else?

[mfranz]

Hi Kyle,

From what I see in the FNMS recognition data, there are quite some evidences for the different versions. I guess the recognition of the different applications itself is not a problem, so I wouldn't mess around on this level.

Manually changing licenses or at least accept proposed changes, should be a standard workflow anyway. That clearly applies not only to Adobe licenses, though in most cases it is more about adding new applications, instead of removing older ones.

Thanks to the normalized and structured data in FNMS, there would be potential for automation. SoftwareTitleVersion contains the VersionWeight, which lets you check if there is a newer version (higher weight) of the same product and what is the trailing version after that. A report could be made for licenses linked to applications which are not the latest within their product, or even an import to correct this automatically.

Best regards,

Markward

[Kevin_Hou]

Hello Kyle

Thank you for letting most of people whom are not aware this new license rule from Adobe. Is there somewhere external URL you can share with so we can read about their licensing change?

I agree with Mark's inputs ARL is mainly for software installation report. How it applies on license consumption could be a different level calculation. Does Adobe release any new SKU for new CC Suite? 

Cheers

Kevin

[malban]

Here's the link to the announcement: http://m3-page.info.adobe.com/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%40ynex7vTZ38NlZ8XkoKlpNXN91F1fSe7zJWZX0XlAGMo%3D You can also Google, "for adobe create cloud infringement" I do believe that action is required on Flexera's part to update the ARL. For example, if you look at the Adobe Systems Photoshop CC (2017) application in FNMS, you will see evidence to pull 18.1.% . According to the announcement, 18.1.17 is authorized but 18.1.6 is not. However, FNMS will recognized both of these to the Adobe Systems Photoshop CC (2017) application which, given what Adobe is saying, now needs to be broken out to two different applications.

[Natalie]

Hi everyone,

We've been investigating the details of this announcement and how to support it for our customers.  Good news - everything here can be done via updates in the ARL and SKU library, and our Content team is working hard to make these a reality. 

• The ARL needs updates because Adobe's announcement requires, in some cases, application more granular than our standard, going down to the build version in some cases. While we generally normalize to the major version level, we've always made exceptions when required for licensing, as these are. 
• Once the ARL updates are completed, we will be updating the SKU library so that Adobe SKUs no longer include the unauthorized versions. 

In your environment, the changes required to your licenses should show up in the Recommended License Changes page and can be applied from there once the updated content is published.

We don't have a release date for this updated content, but obviously it's a high priority for us - look for it soon!

Best regards,

Natalie Lias 

[INgrid]

Hi,

Will you post info here when it is available or when you have a forecast on when the updated ARL will be available?

Photoshop is the tricky one with 18.1.7 authorized but the evidence in Flexera does not cover that level of detail, and we would rather not spend time on making our own evidences if the new ones are on their way.

[Natalie]

Hi @INgrid ,

ARL updates are, in general, posted on our FlexNet Manager blog. I'll try to follow up in this thread too. 🙂 

-N.

[kathy_allen]

Is there an ETA on this yet?

[RamyaJagadeesh]

Content library changes for this activity has been scheduled.
Differentiating authorized and unauthorized Adobe applications in ARL along with updating its lifecycle dates, SKU & Bundle linkings, limiting the downgrades et al is in progress. 

The plan is to sync all five content library releases on 11^th Oct 2019.

[Natalie]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to notify you that we have changed the release date of updated Adobe Creative Cloud content. Please see this article in the FlexNet Manager blog: https://community.flexera.com/t5/FlexNet-Manager-Blog/Update-Adobe-Creative-Cloud-ARL-SKU-PURL-release-delayed/

[Natalie · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your patience. I'm pleased to report that this content update will be released November 29. 

IMPORTANT: Please read the ENTIRE announcement - you will have to take action in order to update your existing licenses. 

https://community.flexera.com/t5/FlexNet-Manager-Blog/ACTION-REQUIRED-Adobe-Creative-Cloud-and-other-Adobe-licensing/ba-p/125012

Best,

Natalie