Deploying Updates

Yep, do it as a login policy. And, since it is 12.1.9 you don't have to
re-wrap it with Composer, just drop the mpkg file into Casper Admin.

You will want to warn your user base that if they see a longer than normal
login it is because you are installing software in the background. May even
want to do the upgrade on a particular day and let them know ahead of time.
When I was pushing some updates down here I had a lot of calls because the
logins were taking a long time, and a lot of people were restarting their
machines because they thought something was wrong.

You might also do a search of the archives. Someone a few months ago
detailed a process for using the JAMF splash screen that is used during an
Adobe install to let users know there is an install going on. Or, you could
write your own AppleScript Studio app to let users know.

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

You can also use self service. I use it for a lot of non critical
updates.

-tom

Alan-

One thing I didn't see suggested yet was if you're going to push the update, you may want to cache it first. The Office updates can be rather large (especially since they're finally combo updates now...Adobe, take a hint). Depending on how many you have to deploy, you could take your installed base, divide by 5 and cache that number per day over a work week. (Maybe split it up by department/network/building etc.) Then, set a policy to install all cached updates when people log in Monday morning. They'll all be taking their time on a Monday to get up and running anyway and if the package is cached, it won't take all that long.

I saw someone else post that for non-critical updates, they let people pull them down with Self Service - a good idea if your environment allows that. You may want to consider implementing a patch schedule. We're in the middle of deploying SCCM and Casper enterprise-wide and the patch schedule will be huge. I'm actually following Microsoft's <gasp> schedule - mainly because they have one! (Apple, take a hint.) On Patch Tuesday, any updates in our Software Update Server that have accumulated since the last Patch Tuesday are released (assuming they've been vetted and there aren't any show stoppers). Users have two weeks to self-install them with the usual Software Update. After those two weeks, I force install. For Adobe and Microsoft patches, I try and deploy them as in-frequently as possible, in-line with Patch Tuesday if possible, though that's not always do-able. Luckily, those don't typically require a reboot so they're less intrusive.

Consider it... Users appreciate knowing when the schedule is and that you're not going to interrupt them with bothersome updates if you aren't scheduled to.

j