Deploying iTunes, Quicktime and Safari

[karthikeyan_mac]

Hi,

We have many machines with different version of iTunes, Quicktime and
Safari.

I need to deploy the latest version of iTunes, Quickime and Safari to all
the machines.

If I download the dmg’s from Apple site and create a policy to deploy the
downloaded dmg, will all machine be deployed with this version.

Or do we need to package using composer and then deploy it.

Regards,

Karthikeyan M

[donmontalvo]

When I saw the original post, I wondered if the original poster had SUS set up in the environment. As Jared stated, makes more sense to use SUS than Casper to handle this if the former is present.
"Nichols, Jared - 1160 - MITLL" <jared.nichols at ll.mit.edu> wrote:

Don

[donmontalvo]

Hi Dustin,
Dustin Dorey <Dustin.Dorey at district196.org> wrote:

Do I understand this correctly, that Casper will disregard any vendor embedded preflight script that checks the install prerequisites?

Thanks,
Don

[karthikeyan_mac]

Thanks for all.

Its better to use SUS server for Apple Updates. For these three applications, if SUS is not available we can also use Casper to deploy since Apple Support download site has the full version installers of these three softwares.

Regards,
Karthikeyan M

[tlarkin]

You can just drop the pkg into Casper Admin and create a policy for it
to be installed as long as it meets the minimum requirements for that
application. You can do it automatic, or like via a self service.

[dustydorey]

Casper will deploy whatever you tell it to. It won't check the versions
installed versus what you are trying to push if that is what you are
curious about. As far as the dmg's from apple, you can just drop the
dmg's into casper admin and deploy it via a policy or remote.
Alternatively you could just make a policy to run all software updates
if it's not too many machines that it would bog down you network. Just
be aware that some updates may require a reboot.

-Dusty-

Dustin Dorey

Technology Support Cluster Specialist

Independent School District 196

Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Public Schools

dustin.dorey at district196.org

651|423|7971

[jarednichols]

If it were me, which it’s not, I’d be more apt to make sure my latest versions of Safari, iTunes and QuickTime were in Software Update server and then just force updates on all machines.

j

[karthikeyan_mac]

Hi

So, We can simply drop the dmg into the policy and it will install silently.
Even if the machine does not have the applications, it will still install it
silently.

Regards,
Karthikeyan

[tlarkin]

I would love to do that Jared, but pushing out updates to thousands of
clients from one SUS over the WAN is not an option for me, nor do I want
to add the SUS service to building level servers due to the overhead it
may cause. I prefer to let my Casper distribution points handle that,
but that is specific to my environment.

-Tom

[#10]

Keep in mind an Apple install can fail if prior versions of other required Apple updates are not already installed on a target machine-- from my point of view that's the biggest advantage of using Apple's SUS.

One option might be to have Casper run SUS disabling the Quicktime, iTunes, Safari updates so you can run those three installs directly from Casper after SUS is done.

[karthikeyan_mac]

Hi,

iTunes, Quicktime and safari downloaded from Apple site will be full
installer and it will not be update.

If its like iLife or iWork packages we will face this issue.

Regards,
Karthikeyan M

[pbachuwa]

I have my server running the Software Update Service and I have a
policy they will have the systems get all the new updates running which
will be all the patches.

Patrick Bachuwa

Client Technical Services

Sears Holdings Corporation

Michigan Campus

3000 W. 14 Mile Road

P.O. Box 8073

Royal Oak, MI. 48068-8073

Phone: 248 637-0350

[dustydorey]

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/

That is a link to download applications/updates from Apple. iLife and
iWork often will have just an update package vs. Quicktime, iTunes, and
Safari having whole version installs.

I'm assuming that you do not manage an ASUS locally, so any policy that
you would set to have the machines run their updates would be going out
to apple. If you're concerned about pushing out a whole application
versus just an update and you do not have a large environment of macs, I
would recommend not using a downloaded package but rather just creating
a policy that triggers the needed updates for that computer. That way
you are not needlessly applying updates to computers that already have
them, or applying applications or updates to computers that cannot run
them.

Log into you JSS, create a new policy, set it's trigger for whatever
you'd like, set the scope, then under the packages tab check "Install
All Software Updates"

Let your staff know ahead of time that you are applying updates and they
may need to reboot their computer for them to complete.

This may or may not work better for you, it all depends on your
environment, bandwidth, end user needs. Here I would not do an update
like that from Apple's SUS, but if you are someplace with only a handful
of macs this may be a good solution for you, it's a little more
automated and hands off.

-Dusty-

[John_Wetter]

Hi Karthikeyan,
Like the others here, unless there is a specific reason in your environment that you can’t have Apple Software Update handle it (like in the case of my esteemed colleague from Kansas City). If you do decide to download all of the packages individually, be sure you’re putting the pkg files in Casper Admin, not the DMG’s as you mentioned earlier.

John

--
John Wetter
Technical Services Manager
Educational Technology, Media & Information Services
Hopkins Public Schools
952-988-5373

[dustydorey]

Sorry I didn't make that very clear, I was referring more to if you set
a policy to push something, it's going to try and push it, casper itself
doesn't do a check of what it's trying to push vs what's installed. I
guess I've never been in a situation yet to test whether or not it would
disregard preflight scripts. The way we manage our systems here we
haven't encountered situations where that would be an issue. I would
have just triggered the software update during a time when it was
convenient from an internal SUS or Apples depending on timing or
bandwidth. Or just wait for the next imaging cycle.

BTW thanks to John for correcting me on DMG/mpkg, I didn't notice my
error before!

-Dusty-

[#16]

pre/post flight script of an apple package installer should be honored.
On Jan 5, 2010, at 3:49 PM, Dorey, Dustin wrote:

One thing you can do via policy for application version checks is to deploy the package to only those machines that have the software
installed and is at a particular version.
You can set this up by creating a smart group and making use of the the Software Info criteria ( Application title and Application version ).
Scope to this group via the policy and you're able to target specific machines for your software delivery without having to script it into a preflight shell script.
Just one method.

[donmontalvo]

OK, that makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.
Dustin Dorey <Dustin.Dorey at district196.org> wrote:

Don