3,100 OS and iOS Devices Deployed in 8 hours?? Possible? Thoughts??

[ClarkPoole]

Hey Guys,

Long story long, I manage about 30,000 devices under JAMF.

We are coming up on a refresh year. Im an Education customer and we want to issue all staff their new device the last day of school.

3 years ago we deployed 1,7000 devices in an eight hour day at a single site. We are tossing around the idea of issuing 3,100 devices in an hour day. It would be a mix of 13" MacBook Airs, and the new iPad.

I would say a ratio of 60 / 40 with majority being Mac OS X.

Devices will be out of the box experience for end users, and all devices will utilize Apple's DEP.

We have done the math on WIFI connectivity, we have looked at Application Demand, meaning my math shows we will be pulling down about 15 Mb, per client. (6.3 MB on the JAMF Binary, 2.1 MB on Self Service, and the remaining is built in fluff for profiles and a single SSL cert.)

What do you guys think? Think its possible to deploy 3,100 devices from a single location?

Any thoughts, "have you thought of this.....", checks or balances?

I appreciate you guys looking into this thread. Hoping to get some good conversation going.

Also, may give some guys who are questioning 1000 deployments.....some insight and the simple fact that it can be pulled off with proper planning (The 1000 that is)

Thanks

[ClarkPoole]

@freddie.cox What are your thoughts on this friend?

Long time no talk! We need to catch up soon!

[m_donovan]

3100 devices sounds ambitious to me. However, you know your workflow and end user requirements. When we lifecycle devices it is by campus only so we are issuing 50 to 60 MBP's on average. Since we don't use DEP for computers just iOS devices imaging is done off site prior to lifecycle and staff members are given the option of MacOS only or a Win10 dual boot with 80/20, 50/50, or 35/65 partition. We also setup email, one drive, and add a printer with the user usually working in groups of 5 teachers to 1 tech. Obviously our workflow wouldn't even come close to 3100 devices. It sounds like you have done similar things before and have a good workflow established to get it done. Some things I would be thinking about are:

Wireless how are they connecting policy/profile? What if it fails?
What if any policies will fire post enrollment? What is the network load if they do?
Will users be using self service to download and install software? How will that impact the network?
How many wireless access points will be available and what can they handle?
Where do the users go for help if needed?
What are the minimum requirements to be considered fully functional? QA/QC to leave with device.
How much access to power is available for devices that need to be charged?
Have all devices been assigned to a prestage?
How are you capturing the user and location information?
What about updates are there any big ones that may cause a delay in setup or adversely impact the network?
Would a caching server be helpful?

These are just some of the things that popped into my head as I thought about deploying that many devices. I could totally be over thinking it as well. You may very well have already taken care of all of them. Just food for thought. I hope it all works out for you. Good luck!

[ClarkPoole]

@m.donovan

Thanks for the response!

I appreciate you taking the time and giving me your thoughts as you thought about deploying that many devices. This is helping me to talk it out. Put it out there and make sure I'm not forgetting something! We are still in the "Are we going to go for it" stage....but will be making a decision within the week.

I do agree. Its ambitious!

Just to give you some background and answers to some of your questions for myself and others to continue to discuss.

1. End Users will connect with an "Enroll" network. Once they enroll they will receive a profile that has the WiFi password when they return to their campus. If it fails.....dead in the water. No other way around it.......

2. Initially they will only receive 3 configuration profiles to get them setup and out the door. With the understanding that at the end of deployment, they will be able to access a full catalog of Self - Service items.

3. Yes, they will be using Self - Service to download items, but it will not be available to them until hours after deployment is complete.

4. Access points are yet to be determined as far a specific model but in the initial math it is either going to be 8 BIG AP's or 12 Aerohive 121's. The math works out that they should be able to handle the clients with a rate of about 2.3 mbps....

5. We use a ticketing system called Fresh Service. Big Fan of it. That is how we will handle any user issues or questions after the 8 hours of deployment.

6. All we need them to do, is use their LDAP creds, verify they have all the profiles they need (visually) then thats pretty much it for QA/QC. Very minimal requirements since we are potentially going to try for 3,100.

7. We do have a station setup for Access power. It should be able to accommodate 20% of the folks that are in the room the time of enrollment. These should all have 60-80 percent power out of the box....but you and I both know there are "those"

8. All devices will be triple and quadruple checked that they are all in PRESTAGE Enrollment.

9. We leverage LDAP to determine User and location of that user....so once they initially enroll, we should have that information!

10. Well, with our good friends at Apple, I'm almost guaranteeing there will be some form of HUGE update they release between now and then. Just my luck! We will cross that bridge if and when it arrives. The JSS should be able handle where they currently are, and are users will be Admins on the machines and have access to run any and all updates they should need. (After Deployment)

11. We have talked about throwing up Caching Servers at all sites. But with the folks going home right after they get their device. We will have 2 month until they return to school. They won't be pulling any updates from inside the network until they return.

If you have any more thoughts...please share!

Thanks

Clark

[sswartz]

Does attaching an inventory label enter the workflow anywhere?

[ClarkPoole]

Done from Apple. Then we just cross reference the FA sticker to the serial number.....

Upload it and the FA field will automatically be filled in by a JSS import