Big News for The MUT

[mlev]

Hey all, Mike here--the creator of The MUT. I just wanted to make a post to let you all know that there are some big changes coming for The MUT--and some big changes that have happened recently.

If you haven't heard of The MUT, it's a native macOS application that allows you to make mass updates to your devices and users in Jamf by uploading a CSV file of unique identifiers and attribute values. Learn more at http://jssmut.com

For those of you who already know and love The MUT, here's what's going on:

Version 3.2 is live
3.0 was a ground-up rewrite in Swift 3, and began using native HTTP sessions for the uploads. This created a faster, more stable, and more verbose MUT. I also attempted to eliminate hand-holding via a new UI. The new UI was not very popular, understandably so, so 3.1 and 3.2 have gone back to a more "classic" look. If you were not a fan of the 3.0 UI and haven't upgraded yet, I highly recommend you do. 3.2 also includes a few other new things including:
- PO Number
- Vendor
- Static group population for macOS and iOS (users coming soon)
- Pre-flight check button (gives a preview of the updates that will be happening

New Documentation
I created a github for The MUT located here. I have fleshed out the readme.md on the github with an introduction, usage instructions, tips, and some advanced workflows. This is a living document which will be updated periodically with new tips/workflows, and clarification for usage information. The link directly to the documentation is here.

Feature Requests and Bug Reports
Github also has an "issues" feature which allows you to create bug reports or feature requests. Feel free to create a bug report, feature request, or just open a dialogue on things you like or don't like about the app. Direct link to github issues.

For those of you who do not want to file an issue via github, I have also created a Google Doc spreadsheet for you to file feature requests or bugs. The spreadsheet is located here.

Open Source Coming Soon™
Speaking of github, most people use it primarily as a method of interacting with open-source software. I do plan to open source The MUT very soon. The biggest holdback right now is that this is and always has been simply a side learning project for me, and I originally never planned on anyone else seeing my code. It is not commented terribly well, it is sloppy, and quite frankly it's embarrassingly messy. I have very little (see: none) "formal" development training, and I learned programming from sources such as youtube, stack overflow, code academy, etc. Once the code is commented and cleaned up to the point where I am no longer embarrassed by it, I will open it up--and that day is coming soon. Keep an eye on the github.

JamfNation 3rd Party Application
There is now yet another way for you to follow The MUT updates, and to generate discussion around the tool. The MUT is now a JamfNation Third Party Application! You can find it here.

That's all for now
Please feel free to generate discussion, let me know what you love, let me know what you hate. Let me know what you'd like to see changed, or what's broken. With this being a side project, I don't really have a QA team or anything like that.. and I love to hear from you!

[vickih]

Thank you for creating "The MUT" its a wonderful program, saves me a lot of time.

[mlev]

You are very welcome, and thank you for the feedback! It's always nice to hear from folks who are actually using the app. I am able to see analytics on web site visits and downloads and things of that nature, but hearing direct feedback is great. :)

[ldennard]

The Mut is a huge time saver. Efficient and powerful.

[michael_macdona]

Thank you for this great tool, but there is one problem I'm noticing with it. When trying to update 'Computer name' in JSS, the MUT tool only has an option for updating 'Device Name', when trying to do so the application quits unexpectedly. I'm able to update all the other bits of information expect Device/Computer Name.

Edit: This is for MacOS Devices

[michael_macdona]

Thank you for this great tool, but there is one problem I'm noticing with it. When trying to update 'Computer name' in JSS, the MUT tool only has an option for updating 'Device Name', when trying to do so the application quits unexpectedly. I'm able to update all the other bits of information expect Device/Computer Name.

[michael_macdona]

Thank you for this great tool, but there is one problem I'm noticing with it. When trying to update 'Computer name' in JSS, the MUT tool only has an option for updating 'Device Name', when trying to do so the application quits unexpectedly. I'm able to update all the other bits of information expect Device/Computer Name.

[mlev]

Hey @michael.macdonald I'll see if I can re-create the force-quit. Sounds like perhaps an issue with populating the variables, I think because of the fact that Device Name does an enforce mobile device name on iOS.

That being said, if you change names with The MUT on computers (after I fix the issues), it will just pull the name back from the computer on next inventory update. The best thing to do would be update the name with MUT and then use the policy under maintenance to "reset device name" which will pull the name from the JSS and change it on the device itself, so it "sticks".

Edit: I have filed the bug here: https://github.com/mike-levenick/mut/issues/1

Edit2: @michael.macdonald I have resolved the issue. Thanks again for the feedback. It was indeed some faulty logic where the MUT didn't realize to PUT in case of computer names, and POST for iOS names. The fix is in the latest version (3.2.1) and it is now available both on JamfNation 3rd party products, as well as jssmut.com. I have submitted the update to the app store as well, and it should go through in a day or two.

[bmortens115]

Wonderful tool. Well played, sir.

[talkingmoose]

@mlev, i really appreciate this tool and love showing it to my new customers. It's a real sense of empowerment for them. Thanks for everything.

[mlev]

@bmortens115 @talkingmoose thanks so much, I'm really glad to hear it! Let me know if there are features you find missing, or bugs you encounter. My own internal testing can only cover so much..

[michael_macdona]

Very useful tool, but the MUT is still unexpectedly quitting when updating Device names for MacOS devices. This wasn't the case when 3.2.1 was released.

[terry_fan]

I really love this tool. It helps us to update Users and other fields as well. It saved lots of time and easy to operate. Many thanks for this wonderful tool.

[mlev]

@michael.macdonald are you still seeing the quitting unexpectedly issue in 3.6.0? I believe I found the problem and resolved it.

[mooler]

@mlev I still do, could you post the solution?

[Seven]

Would it be possible to get a verbose view of the Mut logs while it is working?

We've run in to an issue where Mut crashes whenever we try to update asset tag data. No other data causes an issue, but updating asset tags fails like a champion every which way we cut it.

Let me know what I could gather to help troubleshoot the issue.

[mlev]

@Seven my apologies, quite delayed here. I should figure out some sort of central way for people to report issues.

The most verbose logging that MUT has right now is to just turn on advanced debugging in the settings menu--unfortunately that won't help much with issues of crashing.

All crashing issues that I've discovered stem from the fact that MUT just doesn't handle data very well. It force unwraps things without error checking in quite a few instances, because it is my first programming project and I don't really have formal programming training.

My next update will be focusing on better data handling, better error handling, better format and encoding handling. Basically trying to make it so that these (frankly, unacceptable) crashes are no longer crashes, but instead are errors which tell you how to fix it.

[Seven]

@mlev - Thank you!

[mhegge]

Hey mlev!

Finally, I am in a situation here where I think I will be able to use the MUT to solve a workflow issues we have.

Quick questions:

1) Are we limited to two columns (A and B) to make changes or can we add additional (example Serial Number, Display Name, Asset Tag, Permanent Device Name)?

2) Can we utilize Permanent Device Name?

Regards, Matt

[philipwoods]

The MUT is a great tool. Thanks @mlev

We provide managed services for schools using Jamf and have to create lots of classes for Apple Classroom. Without the MUT we'd have to manually create hundreds of users with email addresses (because the JSS requires it), but thanks to the MUT we can do that job in minutes with a bit of data juggling in a CSV and not have to provide dummy email addresses for the users.

Your work is greatly appreciated here!

[dan-snelson]

Thanks for an excellent tool, @mlev.