Extension Attribute to identify improperly rolled back models

[donmontalvo]

Apple KB HT1159 shows which Macs "Originally" shipped with 10.7, so we know those can't be rolled back to 10.6 (even though the KB is outdated; missing the Late 2011 iMacs), and also shows which "Originally" shipped with 10.6 so we know those can be rolled back to 10.6.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1159

That said, since Apple decided not to update their Late 2011 MacBook Pro and Late 2011 iMac without updating thier Model Identifiers (MacBookPro8,2 and iMac12,1 respectively), it makes it verydifficult for our imaging techs to determine which Macs can or can't be "rolled back" safely to 10.6.

Is it possible to identify Late 2011 model Macs so we can flag any that may have 10.6.8 installed? This way we can identify any that have been rolled out already.

Bonus points for a strategy to prevent Casper Imaging from allowing our 10.6.8 image to be dropped on any Late 2011 Macs.

Thanks,
Don

[donmontalvo]

...bump...

[acdesigntech]

We've recently taken to using the purchasing fields in the JSS to record when a mac was purchased and therefore it's model type. This isn't always perfect as macs bought in 2012 could still be late 2011 models, but it's better than nothing.

To preserve the purchasing info in the case of necessary reimaging we have a text file that contains all this. Of course you could probably set up a way of including an extension attribute on these models so at the very least you'd know when they are purchased?

We also make custom inventory searches based on certain criteria in the purchasing field. It helps us to determine upgrade targets for our annual refresh projects.

[sean]

Could serial number help?

We actually add the version of the OS that a machine was shipped with into the licences. As Casper has no way of providing licence compliance for the OS, we also have a fake app, which has it's info.plist file updated to match the software version of the OS. This way we have a record of what OS shipped with which mac and how many of each version of OS we are running.
For the shipped OS that came with the mac we just add the machine name to the licence field and for volume licences, we add the VLA number.