application restarts after updating the app

[TheCrusher4Real]

Pretty new to Jamf and Mac management. Have been looking at the patch management process and focusing on browser updates, although what I'm discussing is applicable to any application update, not just browsers.

What I'm seeing is some confusion among our users regarding the patching process. For example, user gets notified that there's an update available for Microsoft Edge. User initiates the install process. Browser closes, update begins.

My question is: how does the user know the update has finished applying and they can safely re-open the browser? Is there a way to tell the application to restart after an update has applied? Curious to know how other admins/organizations are handling this. Thanks!

[Nicholaus · Accepted solution]

 I push out Edge updates via the Jamf App Catalog which allows for exactly what you're wanting. Under Computers > Mac Apps > New > Jamf App Catalog > Microsoft Edge you can deploy the app, install any necessary configurations automatically, set user deferral time limits for updates, and there's a checkbox in the End User Experience tab called "Automatically open app after update". I have deferrals set for 4 days so once an update comes out the user will get periodic notifications that Edge needs an update and they can simply quit the application at any time to let the update install. Once the update is complete, the app will open again.

I also don't force the use of Edge, so I have a patch policy setup for Edge that shows how many installs are below the current version. This allows for a smart group to be made based on that patch policy. Computers > Smart Computer Groups > New > Criteria > Add > Advanced Criteria > Patch Reporting Software Title (Choose this option to show the next menu) > Patch Reporting: Microsoft Edge. You can then choose the operator "Is Not" and the value "Latest Version". You can then save the Smart Computer Group and use it as the scope for Microsoft Edge updates via the Jamf App Catalog.

[JevermannNG]

I think the Jamf Pro Patch Management does not offer such an option. You can re-package the MS Edge pkg and include a Post-Install Script which will do the job.

We switch to the Edge Updater and configured it with a profile to ensure that Updates are automatically downloaded:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/edge-learnmore-edgeupdater-for-macos

[Nicholaus · Accepted solution]

 I push out Edge updates via the Jamf App Catalog which allows for exactly what you're wanting. Under Computers > Mac Apps > New > Jamf App Catalog > Microsoft Edge you can deploy the app, install any necessary configurations automatically, set user deferral time limits for updates, and there's a checkbox in the End User Experience tab called "Automatically open app after update". I have deferrals set for 4 days so once an update comes out the user will get periodic notifications that Edge needs an update and they can simply quit the application at any time to let the update install. Once the update is complete, the app will open again.

I also don't force the use of Edge, so I have a patch policy setup for Edge that shows how many installs are below the current version. This allows for a smart group to be made based on that patch policy. Computers > Smart Computer Groups > New > Criteria > Add > Advanced Criteria > Patch Reporting Software Title (Choose this option to show the next menu) > Patch Reporting: Microsoft Edge. You can then choose the operator "Is Not" and the value "Latest Version". You can then save the Smart Computer Group and use it as the scope for Microsoft Edge updates via the Jamf App Catalog.

[TheCrusher4Real]

Just curious if there's a way to scope this (the 'Target Group' field on the 'Configuration settings' page when creating the app) to a Static Computer Group instead of a Smart Group. My plan is to do some testing with a test Mac that I have, which is in its own Static Group, but when I try to create an app as outlined above, it looks like my Target Group has to be a Smart Group. 

Worst-case scenario, I'll just create a Smart Group that only contains my test device; just wanted to check if that was my only option. Thanks!

[Nicholaus · Accepted solution]

The Jamf App Catalog requires Smart Groups for the scope. In this case, you could just set it to "Serial Number" is "Yourserialnumberhere" in the Smart Group.