Ideas on "How to Upgrade Mavericks via Self Service"?

Do you happen to be using Casper Suite 9? If so, my understanding is that the 9.2 update released yesterday supports OS upgrade natively without much to do, other than account for things like hidden (sub 501) management accounts and a few other items. In other words, it sounds like the basics of what you need is the Mavericks installer dropped into Casper Admin and set up in a policy.

I've just upgraded to 9.2.

I just dropped the "Install OS X Mavericks" package (which was actually named "Install OS X Mavericks.InstallESD.dmg" within Casper Admin and uploaded it.

I then created a simple Self-Service policy to distribute it. We're actively testing it now and I'll report back with success or failures.

This of course is just for an upgrade, not for imaging an existing system, or enrolling them.

Thank you.
At the moment we are still on 8.x as we plan anyway to move to a different setup.

Thanks.

@pickerin: where did you get that file from? mine contains install.esd only... or did you drop the whole installer into C.Admin?

I dropped the whole installer. The exact file that is downloaded from the App Store.

The removal of the sub 500 users (the jamf admin account specifically) is a big problem for us. Any idea how to get around that? I've also go the Mavericks.InstallESD.dmg in Casper admin on v9.2. I haven't tested it yet, but i'm guessing it will delete the jamf account.

Here is a previous post which I made regarding the sub-500 users during a mountain lion upgrade. This should help you:

The way I handle this is as follows:

1. Create a static group of machines to upgrade.
2. Cache the 10.8 installer package with a pop-up directing users to Self Service when the package is successfully cached targeted to the static upgrade group.
3. Have a Self Service initiated policy that elevates the UID of our two hidden admin accounts to above 500, and kicks off the 10.8 install, which the users walk through to complete.
4. Once the machine recons in as being upgraded to 10.8, a script runs to correct the elevated UIDs for our hidden admin accounts. This is based on a smart group with the following criteria: OS is 10.8, Packages Installed by Casper has "Install OS X Mountain Lion.dmg".
5. I have an additional policy which will routinely bug users who have no initiated the upgrade via a pop-up. This is based on a Smart Group with the following criteria: OS is not 10.8, Packages Installed by Casper has "Install OS X Mountain Lion.dmg".

This works like a charm for me.

UID elevation/10.8 install kickoff script:

#!/bin/sh

### Change BPS Admin accounts UID ###
dscl . -change /Users/admin UniqueID 499 504
dscl . -change /Users/helpdeskard UniqueID 498 505

### Install Mtn Lion ###
/Users/Shared/Install OS X Mountain Lion.app/Contents/MacOS/Install OS X Mountain Lion&

UID fix script:

#!/bin/sh

### Change BPS Admin accounts UID ###
dscl . -change /Users/admin UniqueID 504 499
dscl . -change /Users/helpdeskard UniqueID 505 498

Wait... does installing 10.9 at all remove the sub 500 users or just when being pushed through Casper?

The standard install process will stomp all over sub-500 users if you do not script around it. I elevate the sub-500 users to over 500 before the upgrade, and reset their UIDs via script after the upgrade. This is what the scripts which I posted above do.

I had a few users upgrade themselves to Mavericks overnight. When I checked by SSH'ing into their boxes, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my hidden Casper admin account survived the upgrade process.

That would be GREAT news! I'll have to test it!

@rtrouton, thanks for posting that. There seem to be conflicting reports on this issue, but lately I'm hearing that the accounts are surviving, which is great if that's the case.

We'll be testing that process soon so we'll have our own confirmation, but good to hear so far that they aren't being blown away.

@dgreening : is there a simple way to wildcard the UID grab?

I have a feeling ours are pretty random, and it would be a pita to find each one and list them out.

I can confirm that my sub-500 admin account was maintained on my personal system upgraded to Mavericks.
I'll confirm after our first Self Service upgrade if it's true there as well (but I suspect it will be).

Appears Mavericks does NOT remove sub-500 accounts.

Hmmm well, I create our admin accounts via packages in our packaged imaging workflow, so they are always the same for me. I'll see what I can figure out regarding wildcarding it. Are your accounts always named the same?

@jwojda, look at ,my post on this thread for an example script I posted that pulls the existing management account UID and then dynamically assigns a new UID above 501 that isn't already in use.

https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/discussion.html?id=8741

You would just need to reassign either the old UID back to the account afterwards, or just use another dynamically assigned UID.
Or, you can try out the upgrade and see it it doesn't blow away the hidden account the way people are saying. If its true then this is all moot anyway. Personally that's what I'm hoping for.

Lots of confirmations:

1) On Casper Admin 9.2 (and corresponding JSS) you can just drop the "Install Mac OS X Mavericks" installer into Casper Admin and upload the whole thing (this is the same executable you download from the Mac App Store, no going into the Contents or anything like that). You can then create a Policy in Self Service to deploy that Package. It works flawlessly for an upgrade of an existing client.
2) The Upgrade DOES NOT remove sub-500 accounts. My hidden admin account is still there, still works, and I'm currently logged into my client's Maverick's system running recon using it.

No need to use prior scripts to pull sub-500 accounts and reassign, they just stay put.

Good news for everyone!

@pickerin, thanks for the confirmation. Indeed this is good news for everyone!

@pickerin That's great! Thanks for testing. So, once the upgrade completes, does it still walk the user thru setup or does it skip setup all together?

Thanks for the confirmation guys! This is fantastic! Glad the Apple Engineers responded to the piles of feedback we have submitted on this issue!

Upgrade via Self Service worked like a charm for us. The only change I had to make was to set the policy to restart automatically rather than if a package required. All sub-500 accounts were preserved.

It appears to skip setup all together. My user was only prompted to setup iCloud Keychain.

@dgreening: i just ran it on a test box, took about an hour. Preserved accounts, however it did prompt for iCloud setup.

Anybody know of a quick and dirty way to block that?

See if Rich's method still works-
http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/disabling-the-icloud-sign-in-pop-up-message/

You can also see this other post:
https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/discussion.html?id=7413

You'll want to get the SetupAssistant that you're modifying off of a Mavericks system, I believe there are new keys.