Help with Missing Devices

chrisgalasso
New Contributor

Hi jamfNation,

I am fairly new to my position, but have been around the jamf block for a bit longer. I've been presented with a different type of scenario than what I have perviously dealt with - So I was looking for some help/advice on getting towards a possible solution. We have an inventory of macOS 10.12.6 devices, and the problem that I have been running into is kiddos "misplacing" their devices in the building.

From my Tech standpoint - I am able to provide last check-in information from the JSS - And I am able to let them know the last AP that the device communicated with. More often than not - I am not finding out about these missing devices until much later - And that has made it more difficult, as the assumption is these devices have been closed and put in their case and then moved.

Anyway - Aside from all rambling - And getting the student to back-track their classes, and contacting all teachers to check their cabinet, and contacting parents to let them know of the issue - Is there anything I can do to get these sleeping devices to force a check-in.

Ideally in my mind - It would be nice to set a policy to have my devices force a check-in while they are sleeping. If there is something I can do to require a device to temporarily wake for internet access after sleeping for maybe 4 hours (Just to be conservative on the battery if needed...), that would be helpful if I could enforce a check-in during that time.

Anyway - Just looking for any suggestions on this. I've asked Administration to work with teachers/students on these issues as they keep coming up - But I'd still feel better having this covered on my end so I can at least know for certain that I'll be able to recover the device in the event that it is missing.

Thanks!

1 REPLY 1

cpdecker
Contributor III

You might want to check into the Power Nap feature under System Preferences > Energy Saver. I believe this is what causes our Macbook Airs stored in carts to come on periodically and check into the JSS. If enabled for battery power, it may give you periodic check-ins and network traffic where you can track them via IP address and access point association, etc. I am not sure that you can pull off a full on inventory update or if it's just a "check-in" though. Policies etc. might be totally out of the question.