Why is the CS6 install PKG so slow?

Question

Ok so I can't use the clone solution anymore (without creating a serialization file etc.,) which we used to deploy using Casper.
So using the 3.1 enterprise deployment tool I have created the install pkg, and loaded it to Casper Admin and ran an install and gave up after 40mins. Checked and made sure I was installing over AFP not SMB and gave up again after 40 mins and CS6 is still not installed.
Today I rebuilt the pkg, to ensure I hadn't made any obvious errors, and decided to test it over ARD to see whether I had made a mistake in Casper. So far as with Casper remote, ARD hits 95% in around 10 mins then starts to slow down and has now been chundering on 97% for 35 mins so far 'running package scripts'.
Up till CS6 we have been imaging a fully installed and configured Mac (including all software, CS5, Office, Fetch, Citrix etc, drivers and printers) at a users desk or in the workshop in 20 to 25 mins from netboot depending on how busy our network or servers are.
Installing CS6 over ARD has just completed in 45 mins (and I will now transfer the pkg to Casper), this is exactly the reason I switched to cloning a configured HD in the first place.
So now I have to inform our users (and 'the business') that our plans to rollout CS6 will take over twice as long and we may now need to find the resources to rollout 'out of hours' instead of re imaging divsions/depts while they are in their weekly meetings as we have done with every version so far. I'm afraid our users have been used to going to a meeting or lunch, returning and logging straight in and working, this will no longer be an option.
...Arrrrgh, rant over.
Cheers
Phil

Answer 1

Hi,
You can still use imaging with AAMEE 3.1. You just have to create the master machine (whosse image will be taken) by deploying an AAMEE 3.1 created package. So create a serialized package using AAMEE 3.1 (using 1st option of AAMEE 3.1) (not possible with AAMEE 3.0). Deploy this serialized package on the master machine. Once your master machine is successfully created, take its image and deploy it on the client machines and Adobe products will be succussfully installed and serialized on client machines. Hope this reduces your problems. There is no need to create a seperate serialization file with AAMEE 3.1.
Having said that, the time taken for an AAMEE created package to deploy should be approximately the same as taken to deploy master collection directly. I agree that the progress shown on the installer is not correct as it is a native progress (not controlled by us), but typically complete CS6 master collection may take some time to complete. Is your master collection media kept on some remote network location?? In that case the time can vary significantly based on the speed of your network. Even on the same machine, the time may vary based on CPU utilization and various other factors.
Thanks,
Saransh Katariya | Adobe Systems | [email protected]