Sibelius 7 deployment?

[localzuk]

Our music dept wants us to deploy Sibelius 7 on our macs, but as we have a full schedule for summer, I am only going to say yes if it is a relatively simple deploy.

 

Looking at their site, it looks to be a client/server application, which is fine. Would deployment on the Macs be as simple as setting up the server, setting it up on one Mac, then imaging that Mac to the rest?

[rh91uk]

Yes, it should be. With Sibelius 6 we have the licence server on the Mac Server. We then install it on the imaging machine, make sure it authenticates against the licence server then deploy the image and all works fine!

 

Hope this helps

Edited June 22, 2012 by rh91uk

[wickedweasal]

Yes, rh91uk is correct we did this a few months ago. Make sure you download the latest release of the License Server And Silbelius and Also the content Update for the Sounds. Then Install the License server on your Mac Server, Install Sibelius on a machine (give yourself about 2 Hours its a big install) and take an image of the machine and deploy.

 

You shouldn't have any issues

[Rozzer]

You would be best of making an image especially if you are adding all the loops and content. The install takes forever. Then run the network license server on your mac server.

 

Ross

[HodgeHi]

Does it come in a .pkg format? If so and you know where the plist (if it uses a plist) file is for the configuration is it possible to deploy via ARD?

[rh91uk]

Yes it does come as a pkg so I assume providing you can find the plist it should be fine however just was easier for us to do it on the image

[HodgeHi]

I was just thinking that if localzuk had already built his image and deployed already and this isn't a task for the 6 weeks then it may be easier to just deploy the package to the required machines and leave them going, but both methods work just as well

[Sheridan]

Can you setup a license server on a Windows Server and point the Macs to that? We're deploying Sib 7 to both Macs and Pcs this summer and want to upgrade our existing Windows license server

[rh91uk]

Yes you can!

[Sheridan]

I don't know if the OP managed this or not, but I installed Sibelius 7.1.2 on a mac with all the sounds, registered it with the license server and checked it worked ok. I then imaged the mac using DeployStudio and pushed that to similar macs.

 

The only thing not working is Sibelius! It crashes out, or comes up with messages like 'can't load the soundset sibelius 7 sounds' on startup - but still works for the original account (local) it was installed under.

 

Even a domain admin account (we have the ad/od golden triangle setup) fails, but the local admin account everything was installed in works.

 

Is there some permissions, or default files missing? I can't believe you have to install Sibelius per user?

[HodgeHi]

What does the console say? If it is a permissions issue, the console will state that the user has been denied permission to run the app or files.

[Sheridan]

I couldn't see any messages like that in the console - and admin accounts don't have application preferences like student accounts (i.e they're allowed to run anything)

[HodgeHi]

I get these errors when an account has copied items into locations, and then a 2nd account tries to access these locations, such as the Applications folder, library folder, Application Support folder. You will see a no entry sign on the folder if that particular user cannot access it. There aren't any managed preferences on these accounts either, just messed up perms. Also a propagation of permissions doesn't seem to resolve the issue.

 

But yours may be an entirely different problem.

[Sheridan]

Hmm if thats the case then I'm stuck - I can't install Sibelius 7 and the 35 Gb of sounds per user!

[HodgeHi]

You shouldn't' need to install, just need to work out the permissions for the files/data. Maybe a chmod -R 777 on the sound files may resolve the issue.

[Sheridan]

I've done a chmod -777 on \Applications\Sibelius 7.app and also \Library\Application Support\Avid and subfolders. Same errors. No error showing in the console (well there are a few messages but exactly the same ones that appear for the working user)

 

Looks like 7.1.2 doesn't image well - has anyone actual done an image of 7.1.2 or is it slightly earlier versions?

 

Its going to be quicker to reinstall the lot and start again. Sick to death of crappy software at the moment!

[HodgeHi]

To sift through errors in the console, I just click on all messages and then search using the user name that was logged in. I haven't used Sibelius so not sure how it works. If the software is running but has problems, then it would be up to the app to log to the console I think. If the app won't even run then it should be the system to log any problems. But then I'm just telling you what you already know and being no help.. Sorry.

[Sheridan]

No problem , any comments and ideas help!

 

The log (when I filter) shows the same odd messages (not errors its seems) for working and non working users. So if its permissions its well hidden! I guess the imaging has screwed it up so its a manual install again.

[HodgeHi]

Can the manual install not be done through ARD if they are .pkg files? I would send it out to 1 client, check with another user to test that all is well and then deploy to the rest. I usually always send out my files via ARD. If the app is part of the image, what about separating it form the image and installed afterwards using Deploy Studios built-in post install option? May resolve the issue with the imaging not playing nicely.

[Sheridan]

I don't have ARD at the minute - we've only got 10 of these so I thought an image would be the best idea. Especially as we were adding Office and other packages (all of which are working OK)

 

Sibelius is a horrible bit of software and Avid the worst support ever - so its up to me on this one!

[JR-PCS]

It might well be that Sibelius does not like network home folders? I have only set it up at a few schools in the past and I'm sure they have always had local home folders because there are quite a few music software that don't support network homes.

 

Go to the AD plugin on one mac and tick "force local home directory on startup disk" in the AD plugin advanced preferences section of Directory Utility. Then try an AD account again.

[Sheridan]

Sorted it - sort of! After the imaging is complete, log back in as the local admin account and install Sibelius again (just the application) and then it works for everyone. Even the extra content. So at least its a slightly quicker fix!