Best Practice For Releasing Devices from Jamf, DEP, ASM, etc...

[joethedsa]

Hi,
I'm looking for the best process in retiring a Mac device. For example we get a four to five year old computer or iOS device in ASM and Jamf that will be donated or given to a retiree (I'm in Higher Ed). What is the process that folks use to accomplish this? Is there a way to bulk remove devices from ASM, Jamf, DEP, etc...?

[tomhastings]

If you have the Macs in a group (smart or static) in Jamf, you can export that inventory as a .csv, edit the download to just include serial numbers, then upload to ASM for removal. Back to Jamf to run an action on the group to remove them from inventory.

[joethedsa]

@tomhastings, Thank you. I don't see why that wouldn't work. I'm curious though, when I use the action button on the group, there is an option for "Delete Computers". This must be what you are referring to as way to remove it from inventory...?

[patgmac]

Yes, I believe that’s what he means.

[vanschip-gerard]

Does anyone know if its possible to export all records related to the computer before deleting it from Jamf Pro?

[macsimus]

I don't think so but you can mark them as "unmanaged" and the info will remain but you won't be charged for a license and won't be able to manage them.

[marcelp]

@vanschip-gerard
Easy solution: I created a smart group that hold all "to be released" Macs (based on a Extension Attribute). Then I created an Advanced Computer Search based on that smart group. You could check everything in "Display" and create a Report. Use XML as CSV and TSV may fail with some spacial signs.
As a bonus: you can use the smart group to delete all the Macs.
Hard solution: Use the API.

[cbarnet]

We have a .csv file with all the serial numbers of iPads we'd like to remove in bulk
"If you have the Macs in a group (smart or static) in Jamf, you can export that inventory as a .csv, edit the download to just include serial numbers, then upload to ASM for removal. Back to Jamf to run an action on the group to remove them from inventory."

Could you describe the "then upload to ASM for removal. " part in more details? I don't see any way of doing this Today.

Thanks

[Tribruin]

@cbarnet Several months back Apple "updated" the Apple Business/School Manager interface and removed the option to upload a CSV. Instead you can past a list of serial numbers (comma seperated) in the search field and select them all to perform the release action.

[agetz]

Just putting this here for anyone having issues. You can paste comma separated serial numbers in the search (up to 1024 items) and perform management changes and releases on them.

[cwaldrip]

You don't even have to format the text before you paste it. I've taken a column from Excel or TextEdit string of serial numbers and pasted it into ABM and I believe it's auto-formatted it with commas.

[armentrout]

In the past I've used a csv file to test this and now have followed that up with simply copying the serial number column and pasting that into the spot in ASM. That method worked for me, hope it helps!

[johntgeck]

This post and using the MUT just saved me so much freaking time. I love this community.

[rhooper]

Can a smart group be created on last checked in date or range? I ask as we still have some devices out there in the wild and still want to retain them for the users to use.

[Frank_Sonder]

Once you delete the computer from the JAMF console, is the user will still be stuck the MDM Profile and all policies that were attached to it?
Isn't there a better way to clear a computer from JAMF by first removing the profiles and policies then MDM and finally deleting it from JAMF?

[cwaldrip]

Definitely don't want to just delete machines in Jamf if someone is still using it. If you're retiring an active machine then I think you can create a policy with a "Files and Processes" setting to execute command 

jamf removeframework

Then you can delete it and the user shouldn't have anything of Jamf left on the machine.

[adl-gavinator]

What about apps that were deployed to the machine via Jamf?  Or the data in those apps?