Advanced Mac OS and iOS blogs. MacOS and iOS tips, tricks and news for developers and administrators.
Unable to unlock FileVault due to Authentication Server refusal!
This week I have been running a macOS 10.13 Support Essentials Course. As part of the course, we cover security features of macOS and in particular FileVault. Now during the exercise for this lesson I came across an issue which did not allow us to setup FileVault. Below is the error: To put the device […]
Big changes coming up to macOS Server. Be prepared!
The writing has been on the wall for macOS Server app for a long time. With the introduction of High Sierra, many of the Server features have found their way into the client version but in spring 2018 macOS Server is having a major overall to focus more on management of computers and devices. A number of […]
Deployment: We Need To Talk
What do you call it when you, as a Mac Admin, prepare a new or used Mac for a new user (or set of users)? Imaging? Deployment? Provisioning? Any or all of these? Or perhaps, “I don’t call it anything, I just do it”? Yes, we Mac Admins and DevOps are really good at getting […]
Block Google Chrome Extensions with a Profile
Hi All. You guessed it, it’s another customer request blog 😛 I had another education customer request us to block the installation of Google Chrome Extensions for their student devices. The little darlings Students had been installing VPN extensions in order to try to by-pass the local proxy filtering. These didn’t actually work still (mini fist […]
Jamf Pro Server / Casper JSS Windows Upgrade Crib Sheet
Hey all. In case you couldn’t guess, I’ve been completing a lot of on-premise Casper JSS / Jamf Pro Server upgrades recently for customer’s using Windows Servers to host their solution. I’m a big fan of little reminders and checklists so I wrote a short ‘crib-sheet’ style note I use as I complete each one. […]
Running the Jamf Pro Installer MSI in Windows
Aka “It is recommended that you use an account that is a local administrator and run the JSS Installer with elevated permissions” Hey all. This is another thing that I occasionally come across as an eternal consultant and keep forgetting the exact command needed to work around it, so externally accessible blog it is! Background […]
Running the Jamf Pro JSS Database Utility in Windows
Aka “The JSS Database Utility needs to be executed with superuser privileges” Hey all. This is something that I occasionally come across as an eternal consultant and keep forgetting the exact command needed to work around it, so what better way to document it then via an externally accessible blog :p Background So, what am […]
MDM Configuration Profile variable Reference – Revision 2017-11-06
Hi All, So this blog may look familiar, that’ll be because it is! I’ve updated my previous version to include new options from Apple (a few changes) and Jamf (actually no changes), and taking the opportunity to add in FileWave and LANrev too (a ton of options!). For ease of reference, I’ve detailed all below (current […]
Workflows for installing macOS
[two_third]Apple has recently been making a few changes that make image deployment of operating systems on Macs more challenging. The following message on the Apple website makes the company’s intentions fairly clear. We started to investigate alternative ways to erase and install, or upgrade macOS, avoiding traditional solutions like NetBoot and ASR, and using standard […]
Typical LDAP mappings for Active Directory in Jamf Pro (formally Casper)
Hi All. This blog is my attempt to document the typical LDAP mapping settings I use when connecting a Jamf Pro (formally Casper) instance to an Active Directory domain. This is used to allow scoping of policies, profiles and administration access to users from an AD domain. This is not the details your client Macs […]