Deploying OSX Updates

[applesupport-ne]

Apple just released 10.10.4 update and I'm looking for the best method to deploy this via self service. I've tried pulling the pkg from the dmg and dropping it into Casper admin, but when I deployed it to my test system it didn't installed nor did it reboot my machine. Then I tried dragging the dmg into Casper admin but despite looking like it installed , after I rebooted it still showed 10.10.3.

I do not have an ASUS server and the App Store is literally blocked. My only method of getting the update to the users is a flash drive and going around to users macs and updating there machines.

I would greatly appreciate your inputs as to how y'all get around this. Any solution will be appreciated.

[Aziz · Accepted solution]

So I'm pushing this update out tonight when everyone is gone using Casper. I'll try my best to explain what I did.

1. Download the update from Apple (Delta update): https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1819?viewlocale=en_CA&locale=en_CA

Make sure you know the difference between delta and combo for this step

1. Open the DMG and drag the .pkg into Casper Admin. Select install on boot drive (doesn't matter) and put it into the OS Update category.

2. Made a smart group based on Operating System (Operating System is: 10.10.3).

3. Make a policy with the package from Casper Admin and scope it to the smart group.

4. Restarts are dependent on your environment. For mine, I have all machines restart immediately.

5. Set a server side or client side limitation.

This works best for my environment, it might be completely different for yours.

[applesupport-ne]

@Abdiaziz I will try this tomorrow and update the post if successful. Thanks.

[applesupport-ne]

@Abdiaziz I got to test it this morning and it WORKED!. Thank you for your help

[cwaldrip]

@Abdiaziz Why are you using the Delta update (only the latest pieces since the last update – ex. 10.10.3) and not the Combo update (all the new pieces since the original release – ex. 10.10.0)?

I first assume most of your clients are already up-to-date with 10.10.3. Is it the file size? Or something else?

[Aziz]

You're welcome @NGKF!

@cwaldrip

All clients were up to date on 10.10.3. Currently we have 90% on 10.10.4, mostly laptops that haven't updated yet.

[cwaldrip]

But it wouldn't be a different process to use the Combo update if we wanted users with 10.10.0, .1, .2, and .3 to get updated using the Combo?

[Aziz]

@cwaldrip

I totally agree. Since everyone was already on 10.10.3, we used the delta upgrade. From 10.10.2 to 10.10.3, we used the combo update since many machines weren't up to date.

[1BigGeek]

For another idea; When we used to manage updates for our fleet I would use the softwareupdate -i -a command to install all updates in the background. Then I would schedule that for off peak hours to save bandwidth. Even better if it executed while users were offsite on their own networks.
You could wrap it up in a nice full script with notices and whatnot if you liked and that would allow you to avoid having to download and deploy each update as it's released in the future.
See also this KB article from Apple.

[Holmes-Green]

This worked for me.

Thank you @Aziz !