In a conversation with one of the JAMF folks I also expressed interest in the ability to have all printers removed and a better way to manage them. So, I would agree that it would be a good idea.
Would it be possible to get a progress bar and some sort of interactive
menu for the user to interact with for installs and reboots? I have
several packages running that require a reboot. I would love it if the
user could choose when to reboot and install software. So they would
get a menu saying, "Hit OK to reboot and install software package X"
Then show a progress bar. I have over 5000 laptops in my network and
users are constantly putting their laptop to sleep or never rebooting or
logging in and out.
Thomas Larkin
TIS Department
KCKPS USD500
tlarki at kckps.org
cell: 913-449-7589
office: 913-627-0351
I have had similar need/want for this in terms of "Self Service" for end-user installs of software. I want to be really careful with options. There are some things I want to force to happen, or give the user a reasonable threshold of time to do it before I force it on them. It would be similar to options in SMS on the Windows side.
5000 laptops...I feel so tiny.
Craig
Yes, a self service type option for users would be quite nice...
tim
Some sort of warning or indication would be great for the laptops. More
and more of our machines are wireless and moving around, on/off the
network, so pushing larger packages is tricker. I suppose Caching and then
waiting to install after cached might help, but harder to keep track of.
Nathaniel Lindley
++++++++++
Learning Systems Specialist
Educational Technology
Saint Paul Public Schools
Saint Paul, Minnesota
nathaniel.lindley at spps.org
phone: 651-603-4929
My only comment is that laptops seem to be the new trend and all of our
recent purchases have all been laptops. Also, having a progress bar any
where that you wonder what is going on will be huge.
Cyrus
Progress on remote installation would be nice, especially when they are
wireless clients, which we don't always know ahead of time.
Nathaniel Lindley
chris.stuart at jwt.com
I agree as well, it can be especially frustrating when deploying huge
programs like Adobe and FCS. It would also be nice if in the Casper
application, if it gave a progress bar when installing software on each
machine instead of just "Installing Adobe CS3". Maybe it would reflect
overall progress if it had multiple installs to do. Just a thought.
Thanks,
Chris Stuart
Mac Systems Administrator
JWT - Chicago
p. 312.951.4000 x4553
c. 312.375.5092
Here is my conundrum... We have a very large wireless laptop user base,
over 5,000 clients. We found an error in an application that ws part of
the master image. We needed to push out different preferences for it.
Well, since most users never reboot or log in/out of their laptop its
harder to get it out to everyone. Also, when they put it to sleep, it
stops the process as far as I can tell. I don't try pushing out CS3
over wifi, I have a switch on a dedicated VLAN users can come plug in
their laptop and get it pushed out over the LAN.
A progress bar to indicate that the software install was complete would
be nice, then they would know that they can put their laptop to sleep,
and also the option to install after next reboot, now, or later if they
are using the laptop. Also, a message saying installation complete
would be nice too.
Thanks,
Thomas Larkin
TIS Department
KCKPS USD500
tlarki at kckps.org
cell: 913-449-7589
office: 913-627-0351
I don't know if this would work for you but it is possible to force a logout
after X min of inactivity. That would fix part of your problem, for the
near term at least.
What I've been doing to fill in the progress bar gap is to execute a script
after the installation has completed informing the user that the task at
hand has completed. A progress bar will still be much better than the script
since user won't know that some task are being performed on their Mac.
Not sure if this is applicable to your situation or not. It seems to cover
your need to let the user know the task has completed but it would be nice
to have a progress bar reminding users that something is going on. Also it
would be nice to have this feature built in rather than creating it
manually.
Cyrus
I'll throw my voice in for the self-service option also. With this I wonder if there would also be a way to tell a trial version vs. a 'real' version. I suppose that would depend on finding some file from the vendor. In this way we could hand out a 30 day demo, then 'upgrade' them to the full version if they use it and request it.
Also, with licensing, it would be nice to be able to break up the licensed software by either Building or network segment. While we're trying to get away from this, a good deal of our software was purchased only for specific sites, or on the order of 40 at this site, 5 at that site, and 300 at yet another site. While having the total counts is nice, having more granularity would be even better!
So, I guess that's two requests.
Thanks,
John
--
John Wetter
Technology Support Administrator
Technology & Information Services
Hopkins Public Schools
952-988-5373
john_wetter at hopkins.k12.mn.us
I am very new to Casper, so this may be a feature that is already
present and I just haven't found it yet. Or, it may be a feature that
is already in the works.
It would be nice to have the ability to pull actual warranty
information directly from Apple using the serial numbers of the
machines. I know that the Self Service portal for Apple (Global
Service Exchange or GSX) has an API that you can script/program into,
and I know that there are companies looking at using the AppleCare
information site for this. Managed Planet, which creates plug ins for
LANDesk, has one that they were/are working on.
So, if we can get warranty/purchased date information from Apple in
the inventory reports, that would be swell!
Thanks!
-
Steve Wood
Director Information Technology
swood at integerdallas.com
The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
iPhone. 940.312.2475 | fx. 214.758.6902 | desk. 214.758.6813
Great idea!! I'll second that.
The once concern I have is, what happens when a computer is out of warranty?
I haven't had GSX access in a couple of years, so I don't know if GSX
reports the expiration date of expired warranties, but
apple.com/support/oss/ just reports 'no longer covered', not the expiration
date. I suppose where no data is available, the tool would simply not write
anything to the database. This is certainly not a show stopper, and if a
system like this is in play, you could safely assume that, after an update,
any computer without an expiration date in the JSS is no longer covered for
service.
--
Miles Leacy
Senior Macintosh Technician
Polo Ralph Lauren
212-318-7603
miles.leacy at poloralphlauren.com
GSX should display all warranty information and repair history. However, getting access to that end is probably not going to happen. However, Apple already has a web front end to check warranty out, here:
https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do
I am not sure if you interface casper with it or not, but just a thought....
Thomas Larkin
TIS Department
KCKPS USD500
tlarki at kckps.org
cell: 913-449-7589
office: 913-627-0351
I'm lazy, just like all good Sys Admins are. I don't want to have to
copy and paste 100 computer serial #s into GSX or the AppleCare front
end on their site. I want a button to push, or an automatic inventory
feature, that grabs that info for me.
As for machines that are out of warranty, or ones that show no data,
that's fine because you can treat them as the exception, not the
norm. Honestly the data I am looking for is not just the warranty,
but the purchased date (estimated purch. date in GSX). That
information can help me when I'm doing my forecasting for budgeting
reasons. Or when I'm working on my trickle down reports for machines.
Thanks!
-
Steve Wood
Director Information Technology
swood at integerdallas.com
The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
iPhone. 940.312.2475 | fx. 214.758.6902 | desk. 214.758.6813
I agree with what has been said to date. This would be a very helpful
feature. From my point of view having data on machines that are out
of warranty would still be of value as it would be a great reminder to
either update their warranty cover or to arrange for purchase of new
equipment. Can someone from jamf comment on whether this is
technically feasible?
Cheers,
Wylie
Wouldn't it be cool if we could just enter our GSX username/pw account
information into the JSS somewhere and it would interface/download the
data by MAC address or SN or something from Apple. What about computers
that have new logic boards and the serial number reports as 55 or 0. maybe
MAC address would be the best identifier. We've tried to get the data
from Apple before, even in just a flat file to import. no luck.
Nathaniel Lindley
++++++++++
Learning Systems Specialist
Educational Technology
Saint Paul Public Schools
Saint Paul, Minnesota
nathaniel.lindley at spps.org
phone: 651-603-4929
If a logic board is replaced, and the tech did not run the board
serialize utility to put the new s/n and MAC address in, you're out of
luck. Again, this is an exception, not a norm. How many machines do
you have in your inventory that have had LB replacements? I'm sure
you could keep a spreadsheet somewhere with that info in it.
I've gotten warranty info from Apple before, thru my direct sales rep,
but it took him a few weeks to get it. I basically sent him a list of
serial numbers, and he sent back a list with MFG date, which was
perfect for what I needed.
Thanks!
-
Steve Wood
Director Information Technology
swood at integerdallas.com
The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
iPhone. 940.312.2475 | fx. 214.758.6902 | desk. 214.758.6813
Hi,
I have setup configurations with some smart configs. It would be
really helpful if you could colour code either the base configs or the
smart ones so you could see which package came from which set.
Best wishes
Michael
You must be talking in the Casper Admin app and not the web interface. I can agree with this. It would be helpful when you are looking at an individual smart config. If for some reason I had two of the same package in there for some dumb reason, one from the master and one in the smart config under it, then I could easily tell which to pull out. Better yet for that stupid situation have some intelligence in the app to tell me I'm doing that, not allow it, or just correct it and remove the smart config instance when the Master has that package added.
I know that I've already requested for the web interface of Casper Admin to have two different views when I work with a config; a condensed version that only shows the packages currently assigned to it (instead of the monster list of them all), and then a full view so I can add more packages. At least the web interface you can somewhat distinguish what's inherited with a grayed out check box. Colors would be even more obvious (unless you are somewhat color blind).
Craig
On the back of this, I would love for JAMF to fix the priority
sorting in Casper Admin so that when I change the priority of a
package the list automatically resorts rather than having to go click
the header twice each time. We spend a great deal of time viewing the
configs sorted by priority and it's a real pain to have to keep
resorting it...
Cheers
Dan
Hi,
It would be really handy if I could do a smart group filtered against
package receipts. It would be the easiest way to tell what packages
were installed. I will be rolling out font upgrades with Casper and I
can see the receipts for those packages, but can't do a smart group
against them.
Best wishes
Michael
I would like to second this feature request, only modify it a little...
There are two applications we use that do not show up under the installed
applications. There is an InDesign plug-in called Q2ID3 that is a licensed
plug-in, however it only shows up in package receipts.
The other is Default Folder X. This is another licensed application,
however since it really is a PreferencePane, it only shows up under package
receipts.
So, when an update to either of these applications come out, it would be
nice to have a smart group created based on either of the package receipts
to then create a policy to install the update.
Thanks...
tim
On 6/17/08 11:11 AM, "Clare Bartlet" <cpb10 at cam.ac.uk> wrote:
On 17 Jun 2008, at 16:54, Ernst, Craig S. wrote:
Hi Clare,
I think this is one of the most appropriate places to post feature ideas so
people do get a chance to expand on it and refine it.
That's exactly why I post my requests here.
we have around 200 Macs that are configured using Casper. These Macs are in
around 25 different, and often remote, locations. The imaging of these Macs is
carried out by different people at each of these sites. We have rebuilt the
JSS from scratch this time around. Once we have asked the sites to image their
Macs I would like to be able to look at each configuration and see all the
Macs that have picked up that config. I can't see how else to do this
This should work for you but not after the fact:
Building on Enrique's suggestion...
Use Composer to create a package that is named for your configuration. It
can contain nothing.
Add that package to your configuration so that it gets "installed" or at
least the JSS will store a receipt that it was installed.
In the JSS, view Logs --> Packages installed by the Casper Suite. Click the
"Computers With" button.
Hope this helps!
--
bill
William M. Smith, Technical Analyst
MCS IT
Merrill Communications, LLC
(651) 632-1492
