Metering Adobe Acrobat Pro DC - Package Updates

[SManagementTea9]

Hi Everyone Are there any known (or other) issues that has seen software usage (metering) data for Acrobat Pro DC and other Adobe products being wiped out when package updates are deployed? regards Conny

[JohnSorensenDK]

Hi @SManagementTea9 

Adobe is known to wrap its installations, i.e. they're not "true" MSI packages, and therefore the FlexNet inventory agent (or other application monitoring/metering solutions) may not collect trustworthy usage information without proper configuration.

Now, it's unclear to me what you mean by "being wiped out when package updates are deployed", would you please elaborate a bit further on what this package update actually did?

Thanks,

[ChrisG]

To elaborate a little further on @JohnSorensenDK's comments:

Current releases of the FlexNet agent primarily capture usage for applications that are installed with traditional and simply structured MSI packages. There are a range of applications which are not installed with such packages, including some applications from from Adobe, and Office 365 applications installed via the ‘click-2-run’ technology - the FlexNet agent won't (by default) gather usage for these applications.

It is possible to configure "manual mapper" registry entries on Windows computers running the FlexNet agent to gather usage data for non-MSI packages. The following article may help: Software Usage Metering - How to monitor unknown product known?

For reference, here are some other discussion threads on a similar topic to this one:

• Usage for some Adobe Acrobat DC, but not all of it
• Metering and Last Used Date Reporting Incorrectly
• On which basis are software metering usage data are tracked by default

I'm hoping that the FlexNet agent can be enhanced to gather usage data about additional applications. There is a reasonable amount of development work required to do that, but I'm trying to swing some influence to get it sufficiently prioritized in the funnel to be considered in the first half next year. The amount of discussion on this topic in Community help with setting priority!

[SManagementTea9]

Thanks @ChrisG It's a huge frustration in not being able to accurately meter Adobe and other non-MSI products. It will also go a long way in providing our customers with an increased level of confidence in the whole application metering space. There's alot of work in it for us too in understanding and confirming with SOE teams etc which ones are not just MSI's and which are exe's but what other applications are there, like Adobe, that have neither standard MSI or exe installers. I really hope that this issue does get a few bumps up the priority list for development/enhancement work. Thanks Chris! cheers Conny

[SManagementTea9]

Thanks ChrisG It's a huge frustration in not being able to accurately meter Adobe and other non-MSI products. It will also go a long way in providing our customers with an increased level of confidence in the whole application metering space. There's alot of work in it for us too in understanding and confirming with SOE teams etc which ones are not just MSI's and which are exe's but what other applications are there, like Adobe, that have neither standard MSI or exe installers. I really hope that this issue does get a few bumps up the priority list for development/enhancement work. Thanks Chris! cheers Conny

[ChrisG]

Take a look at the following new thread I have just posted which has some new insights and suggestions: Application usage metering with FlexNet agent on Windows for non-MSI applications

[ChrisG]

In case it helps anybody reviewing this thread, see the following blog that has just been posted for a more extensive review of usage metering capabilities and configuration: Application usage metering using the FlexNet inventory agent