C-MDM Part 1 - a hacky, prototype middleware solution for extending MDM with CM
This is going to be a crazy journey
Mar 27, 2018 - 14 minute read
Categories: AirWatch API Configuration Management Chef DEP Mobile Device Management Munki Puppet
A few days ago I tweeted a very vague picture from System Preferences, showing an unsigned, MDM installed profile. At the time, no one really picked up on the importance of it, but today I would like to introduce you to the concept of C-MDM. My vision for C-MDM is a middleware tool, that can aggregate data locally on a device, analyze what settings it needs to manage and then ship that over to your MDM of choice for installation and/or removal.
macOS testing tricks - Reusing base images and obtaining a root shell prior to SetupAssistant with LanguageChooser
Since Apple cannot supply installer apps
Mar 26, 2018 - 5 minute read
Categories: AutoDMG DEP SetupAssistant vfuse
Recently, Chris Collins wrote an awesome blog post around some shortcut keys to get a Terminal window during the SetupAssistant. In the comments, Matthew Lavine wrote something that caught my attention:
Automated CloudFront invalidation rules
Defining object cache rules for tools like imagr, munki and reposado
Jan 25, 2018 - 4 minute read
Categories: amazon aws automation CloudFront Imagr Munki Reposado
With Apple releasing their deprecation notice for macOS Server functionality, several macadmins have been asking what they can do to continue to manage services like Imagr, Munki and Reposado.
Advanced munki sharding
Or perhaps cautiously deploying High Sierra
Dec 19, 2017 - 6 minute read
Categories: macOS Munki shard sharding High Sierra
For various reasons, my company has decided to standardize on macOS High Sierra 10.13.2. But given all of the latest issues we and others have seen with High Sierra, we wanted to take a somewhat conservative deployment strategy:
Custom DEP - Part 9: A practical example of InstallApplications, Crypt, DEPNotify and Munki
Pulling the custom DEP strings.
Dec 18, 2017 - 9 minute read
Categories: macOS DEP MDM EMM InstallApplication InstallApplications mdmclient Crypt DEPNotify Munki
In Part 8, I outlined my thoughts on why InstallApplications was written and why it’s my preferred way to orchestrate custom DEP enrollments.
Custom DEP - Part 8: Things to look out for
There's a lot of dragons.
Dec 18, 2017 - 6 minute read
Categories: macOS DEP MDM EMM InstallApplication InstallApplications mdmclient
On November 27th, 2016, my current employer and AirWatch decided to go down the route of collaborating on custom DEP. Almost fourteen months later, I’m realizing just how important this decision was, both to my professional career and my company’s worldwide macOS deployment. With the release of macOS 10.13.2/User Approved MDM enrollment and changes to how SecureToken operates in FileVault environments, many macadmins have felt the pressure to quickly implement some form of MDM. It’s an ugly, reactionary situation.