Mac Admins Podcast - Episode 375 Big thanks to Tom Bridge and Marcus Ransom for having me on the podcast to talk shop about managing an Apple MDM at scale in the MSP space! Mac Admins Podcast: Episode 375: Managing Macs at MSPs with Ross MatsudaRoss Matsuda joins the Podcast from Ntiva, where he manages a
Scripting Cisco Secure Client + Umbrella, Part 3: Deployment Putting the pieces together to install Cisco Secure Client on your macOS fleet will look something like this.
Scripting Cisco Secure Client + Umbrella, Part 2: MDM Profiles You'll want a few MDM profiles ready to go before you begin deploying Cisco Secure Client 5.x with the Umbrella module
Scripting Cisco Secure Client + Umbrella, Part 1: Ingredients A review of the items you'll need to migrate from OpenDNS Umbrella Roaming Client 3.x to Cisco Secure Client 5.x with the Umbrella Module.
macOS DDM Software Update Logs To learn more about prompted (or unprompted) DDM software update restarts, we took a look at the important, but temperamental, /var/loginstall.log.
Videos The University of Utah Presentation - November 2023 A presentation that picks up where my MacAdmins 2023 presentation on GUI scripting left off.
macOS DDM Software Update Local Status for macOS Once a DDM software update declaration makes it to a Sonoma Mac, it stores some information on the device that we can use.
Videos Scripting the Unscriptable - MacAdmins 2023 Presentation A recording of my MacAdmins 2023 session on GUI scripting using AppleScript.
News MacAdmins 2023 Session I'll be presenting a session on GUI scripting at the MacAdmins 2023 Conference in Pennsylvania on July 20th.
Scripting Software Updates, Bonus Round - SWU Bugged Fact Here's a device fact/extension attribute you can use to see if the `softwareupdate` binary can't see the most recent macOS updates.
macOS Software Updates, Part 3 - Remediation There are a lot of different approaches you can take to remediating software update availability errors on your fleet, and many tools at your disposal.
News Command-Control-Power interview An interview with the team at the Command-Control-Power podcast.
Scripting Software Updates, Part 2 - Advanced States Depending on your Macs' software update state, you can divide your fleet into groups with some advanced logic.
Scripting Software Updates, Part 1 - Device State We can use locally-stored .plist data to differentiate between available updates and upgrades, then make decisions based on those results.
MDM Google Chrome Extension MDM Profiles If you aren't looking for full browser management, but still need some Chrome extensions deployed, manage them via MDM Profile.
Scripting GUI Scripting with AppleScript GUI scripting can be a high-investment, high-reward endeavor. While often intimidating, it can give you some unique and powerful tools.
Scripting Guidelines for installer types A review of a few types of condition scripts you can use for your installers. Every app has its needs, and you can meet those needs elegantly.
Addigy Accessing Addigy's Public Software pkgs Once Addigy has released a public software item, you can point your scripts at their .pkg installers, saving yourself the time and trouble of uploading them yourself.
MacAdmins 2020 Presentation MacAdmins 2020 - Early Efficiencies: Prioritizing your time as a new Mac Admin through automation and other best practices.
macOS macOS Ventura beta in VMWare Fusion VMWare Fusion doesn't make it easy to set up a fresh VM with Monterey or later. Here are some resources to help get your Ventura beta VM on its feet.
Scripting Per-device exemptions using flag files Setting and removing flag files can be a quick, reliable way to identify Macs that should be included (or exempted) from certain actions.
Addigy Exceptions in MacManage policy scoping Policy inheritance prevents MacManage scoping exceptions in child policies - but we can build around that with creative use of flex policies.
Addigy Creating support tickets in Addigy scripts You can use Addigy's go-agent binary to generate support tickets and emails from within your scripts. Here's an example of that in action.
Addigy Managing Microsoft Office in Addigy Managing the app lifecycle for Microsoft Office can be more sensitive than it looks at first glance. Optimize your deployment and update workflow in Addigy to keep your fleet up-to-date invisibly.
Scripting Using Self Service for Temporary Admin Rights With a combination of bash, AppleScript, and your MDM's self service tool, you can allow your users to grant themselves admin rights when they need it.