I have been using Composer to deploy these rather than relying on the MDM features. I wasn't aware of make-profile-pkg that @Abdiaziz mentioned and I am sure it is much easier than what I have been doing. I will definitely give this a shot next time I need to send one out.
Here is the basic process I follow to package up my configuration profiles:
Quick question @freddie.cox . How come you package the profiles rather than relying on the MDM features? And how do you go about confirming that the profile is properly installed via Casper since you are going around the profile management Casper provides? Sounds like an interesting approach so I'm just curious.
As for the website in question, I saw it and it looks very interesting. But I wish the developer would open it up and share the code so that one could use it locally rather than relying on the website.
@bpavlov Previously the reporting features were lacking regarding who did/didn't have the configuration profile installed. Recent updates to the JSS have improved this visibility but I have just got in the habit of packaging them up.
It also allows me to install them at first-boot imaging (ie WiFi configuration) rather than have to wait until the computer is setup.
@esantiago Correct. Place the config files where you want them to be copied to on the client (I do /Library/MyOrgName/ so that no one sees anything has been copied and its a simple path to work with) then drag them into the left side of the composer window and it will create a new package.
Then you can add the post install script to install those copied profiles using the profiles command.
If it's a configuration profile uploaded to the JSS then it gets signed when its deployed. I also believe if you download the profile from the JSS that it is also signed. Easy enough to test that yourself if so inclined. Really the only situation to look out for is if you're doing custom profiles and staying outside of the JSS completely by deploying them through packages. In that case perhaps using the JSS to get it signed through there may help or you can look into something like Profile Manager. I was briefly reading about that option the other day but then learned the JSS signs the profile so it wasn't necessary.
@bpavlov I'm familiar with the JSS auto-signing uploaded profiles. The issue I see is with custom payloads/attributes that the JSS doesn't understand get stripped away or don't function properly.
@jhbush1973 I usually create the config profiles in the JSS and I have setup code signing in the JSS and in Composer using our Developer account. At this point I haven't had any issues with importing them using profiles.