Feature Restricted Licensing - Online | Deployment guide

Applies to enterprise.

What is Feature Restricted Licensing - Online?

Feature Restricted Licensing - Online is a secure license activation method for users who require access to desktop software but are unable to use Named User Licensing due to the secure nature of their environments. Feature Restricted Licensing – Online requires a connection to the Internet to validate the license upon installation. However, it does not require that users log in to use the software.

Acrobat Classic version can now be included in Feature Restricted Licensing packages for ETLA customers. VIP and VIP marketplace customers will need to purchase Acrobat Classic FRL separately. This will provide customers with a stable release version of Acrobat to deploy in secure environments. 

For more, see Document Cloud Product Tracks.

How Feature Restricted Licensing - Online works

Admin workflow

As an admin, create a Feature Restricted Licensing - Online package from the Packages tab in the Admin Console, and deploy it on a user machine.

Note:

The Feature Restricted Licensing - Online option appears in your Admin Console only when Adobe entitles your organization to use this type of licensing. The option does not appear by default.

User workflow

Launch the application on your computer. The license activates automatically. 

When the application launches, it generates a license request that includes:

  • An Adobe-generated package ID that identifies the installed licensing information.
  • An Adobe-generated device ID, which is an SHA-256 (secure hash algorithm) hash of various computer attributes.
Note:

None of the information shared in the license request is device-identifiable.

The app sends the request, using the HTTP protocol, to an Adobe licensing server over the Internet. For extra security, your organization can control the Internet access by a firewall that intercepts and unpacks all Adobe network traffic to verify the content.

Admin tasks

Licensing

For Feature Restricted Licensing - Online licenses to activate successfully, the client computer must be able to reach the Adobe licensing server lcs-cops.adobe.io via HTTPS. Some administrators may require to open an endpoint on their firewall, and allow the endpoint lcs-cops.adobe.io. The client machine will attempt to reach the designated endpoint at random intervals to validate the license. However, if the endpoint cannot be reached, it will rely on the cached license on the client machine. After the initial activation, the client machine can be moved to a secure location. The license continues to work without further contact with the Adobe server until the license expiration date.

There are two options for license activation (in Step 8 of the following procedure):

  • Via https://lcs-cops.adobe.io.
  • Via https://lcs-cops-proxy.adobe.com (fixed IP addresses).

The license expiration date is the customer's contract end date.

Create packages

Note:

Availability Of user-generated packages

Starting December 2023, only packages aligned with Adobe's Enterprise & Teams support policy will be available on the Packages tab of the Admin Console.

This will help optimize the performance and load time of the Packages tab.

  1. On the Packages tab, click Create a Package.

  2. Choose Feature Restricted Licensing, and click Next.

  3. Choose Online activation, and click Next.

    Choose Online activation

  4. On the Entitlements screen, select the required entitlements, and click Next.

    Choose entitlements

  5. On the Configure screen, select the required options and then click Next.

    Configuration options

    • Choose a Platform: Choose the operating system and the processor support from the following:
      • macOS (Universal)
      • macOS (Intel)
      • macOS (Apple Silicon)
      • Windows (64-bit)
      • Windows (32-bit)
      • Windows (ARM)
    Note:

    A package made for one operating system and architecture type, cannot be deployed on another.

    • It's necessary to create separate packages for Windows 64-bit, Windows 32-bit, and Windows ARM devices.
    • It's necessary to create separate packages for macOS (Intel) and macOS (Apple Silicon) devices. Alternatively, you can create a macOS (Universal) package, and use this to install apps on both macOS (Intel) and macOS (Apple Silicon) machines.
    • Language: Select the language in which you want to create the package.
    • Use OS Locale: Enables you to create a package that deploys in the OS language of client machine. In which case, the OS language is the default fallback language in which the package is deployed.
  6. On the Choose Apps screen, you can choose to create one of the following types of packages:

    Click the plus icons next to the corresponding applications to include them in the package.

    Choose applications

    Note:

    If you add a product that has dependent products, the dependent products are added automatically. For example, if you add Photoshop, the dependent products Camera Raw and Adobe Preview are added automatically.

    Optionally, you can filter down the list of Available Applications to choose from.

    Latest versions: Display the latest version of all available applications.

    Long-term supported versions: Display Adobe's long-term supported versions. To know what versions are supported for your Creative Cloud plan, review the Creative Cloud Support policy

    Beta apps: Display available beta apps. Learn more.

    Older versions: Display a list of previous versions of the apps. View versions that don't receive security or feature updates.

    Filter available applications

    App Add-ons: Certain Adobe apps come with Add-ons. So, when you add an app that includes one or more Add-ons, you have the option to include the add-ons in the package you're creating. By default, Add-ons are not included in the package.

    App Add-ons

    After you're done with your selections, click Next.

  7. (Not currently available for Windows ARM devices) On the Choose Plugins screen, search and select plug-ins to include in the package, and click Next.

    You can select the Show Compatible Plugins Only check box to display the plug-ins that are compatible with the apps in the package. This filter doesn't appear if you only have the Creative Cloud desktop app in your package.

    To view the list of selected plug-ins, click Selected Plugins.

    Note:

    The plug-ins that you include in the package do not necessarily need the supporting application to be part of the same package. You can include plug-ins and extensions for apps that are previously installed on your users' computers. Also, if a computer does not have the targeted application for a plug-in, the plug-in is not installed on the computer.

    Choose plugins

  8. On the Options screen, select the required options and then click Next.

    Feature flag retrieval via a network call: Adobe desktop app periodically fetch feature flags from the Adobe servers to provide you with the most up-to-date features and improvements. This process allows us to update certain features dynamically without requiring a full app update. Note that this involves a periodic network call to retrieve the latest feature configurations. Disable this feature, using the Adobe Licensing toolkit run the following commands.

  9. On the Finalize screen, specify the following:

    Package name: Enter the name of the package.

    Create flat package: If you have chosen a macOS platform, you have the option to create flat packages. This option is selected by default. For more details, see Creating flat packages.

    Review the included applications and configuration for this package before building the package.

    Click Create package.

    Note:

    If you are creating macOS packages, the Adobe Package Downloader is downloaded to your computer. Open and run to complete download process. For further details, see Adobe Package Downloader.

You are returned to the package list when the package creation process begins.

If the package is built successfully, you are prompted to download the package.

Also, the Download link is available in the Actions column of the corresponding package row. So you can download the package later. 

A package is available in the Admin Console for up to three days. To check the time remaining to download a package, click  to the right of the package name.

Caution

If the package that you've created, contains one or more apps that have been rolled back owing to a bug or issue which needs to be fixed, this package displays as Revoked. You will be unable to download this package.

Also, if you have previously downloaded a package that contains a revoked app, you should not deploy it. You should create and deploy a new package with a non-revoked version of the app. 

Revoked package

Packageinfo.txt

The package that you download, contains a Packageinfo.txt file. This file has the information such as the following about that package:

  • Package Name
  • Package Type - FRL Online Package
  • Platform
  • Locale
  • Creative Cloud Desktop application version
  • Package Configurations
    • Remote update manager - Enabled or Disabled 
    • App Panel - Enabled or Disabled
    • Beta App Download - Enabled or Disabled
    • Browser Based Auth - Enabled or Disabled
    • Files Panel - Enabled or Disabled
    • Market Panel - Enabled or Disabled
    • Use OS Locale - Enabled or Disabled

The PackageInfo.txt file is for informational purposes only.

Deploy packages

After you create the feature restricted license package, set up the end-user machines with the license:

For details on troubleshooting Creative Cloud apps installation and uninstallation errors, see this document.

Update licenses

If your organization has renewed their contract, you need not deploy a new package or license-only package to relicense your users. The user computer just requires to reach the Adobe Licensing Server through the Internet to get the updated license.

To update the apps on a user machine at any stage, create a package containing the latest apps, and deploy to the user machine. You can either create a package, or update a previous package, by performing the following steps:

Remove licenses

REMOVE SINGLE LICENSE FROM A COMPUTER

You can remove a license from a computer in the following scenarios:

  • The package is a license-only package.
  • The package includes the license and apps, and the apps are uninstalled using the OS-specific procedures (for example, Add-Remove Programs on Windows).

Use Adobe's Licensing Toolkit to remove a license. Adobe Licensing Toolkit is a command-line utility that is used to activate or uninstall licenses. It is available in the licensing package that you download from the Admin Console. Alternatively, you can download it directly from the Admin Console under Packages > Tools.

To remove a license, run the following commands with admin privileges:

Windows:

adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe --precondition --uninstall --filePath <absolute path of the .json file>

macOS:

sudo ./adobe-licensing-toolkit --precondition --uninstall --filePath <absolute path of the .json file>

For more information, see these steps.

Note:

The .json file can be found within the package that was downloaded from the Admin Console and deployed to the user machine. The file contains the licensing information.

REMOVE ALL LICENSES FROM A COMPUTER

In the scenario where multiple licenses have been installed on a single machine, run the following commands with admin privileges to remove the licenses:

Windows:

adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe --precondition --uninstall --all

macOS:

sudo ./adobe-licensing-toolkit --precondition --uninstall --all

For more information, see these steps.

Uninstall products and licenses

Instead of removing licenses from a user's computer, you can uninstall the license and the products. By using the Feature Restricted Licensing packages, themselves.

Read the details on how to uninstall packages from a user's computer.

Frequently asked questions

Other Feature Restricted Licensing activation methods

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