License Setup file versus Serial Number Only Hosting

Question

Could someone list the pros and cons of license setup file versus serial number only hosting. I understand that the latter requires the least effort to set up and manage, but what would make me choose the former?
Many thanks

Answer 1

SJW,
I'm think you're referring to the models where the license pool is hosted at Adobe. The two models are called "Serial Number-Only at Adobe" and "Adobe-hosted with custom options."
What's common between the two
- Pool of licenses is hosted at Adobe
- Customer obtains e-license reports on the Licensing Website (LWS)
- E-license is downloaded via the Internet (e-license is around 3 KB)
Differences - Serial No. Only
- Single pool of e-licenses, identified by the serial number, shared by the different groups in the organization that owns that serial number.
- Reports on LWS show the total licenses available/downloaded, overdraft licenses available/downloaded, secondary use licenses, and recovered licenses.
- Upon launching Acrobat, End-users see a dialog box indicating to download an e-license.
- No changes to the way Acrobat 8 is installed (just install the application with the serial number as usual).
Differences - Adobe-hosted with custom options
- Individual pool of e-licenses, identified by the identifier of the each individual Ship To in the order. Not shared across the the organization.
- Same as before, reports show the information about the customer's license pool. However, this option allows companies to have the request to download the e-license to capture the name of the machine so the reports will show the name of every machine that has downloaded (or returned) and e-license.
- Upon launching Acrobat, End-users *may* see a dialog box indicating to download an e-license.
- The installation of Acrobat 8 changes. In this case, Acrobat requires a Client Setup file that configures Acrobat 8 with the custom options the customer wants to setup
- Custom options: display or not the dialog to the end-user (silent e-license download) and include/not include machine name in LWS e-license reports.
In summary, the Serial Number-Only method is simpler but does not allow for customization (which in many cases that's just fine).
Regards,
Juan-Carlos