JAMF Pro Mac Apps (jamf pro 10.37)

bmack99
Contributor III

I've been testing the Mac Apps catalog and update functionality since the release of JAMF PRO 10.37.2. The timing is very interesting as right before this release we got the internal approval to procure Alectrona Patch to shore up our 3rd party patching.

I'm curious though what is the trick to getting the 'InstallEnterpriseApplication' to actually "install" on Intel machines? I have no issues on ARM chipset machines but the intel machines I am testing on just hang in Pending Management Commands and never complete: Screen Shot 2022-04-13 at 7.33.40 AM.png

5 REPLIES 5

SlidewaysF30
New Contributor III

Just started testing this myself. Seeing similar results on an intel Mac running 10.14. Is this functionality limited to specific OS/Hardware?

 

I ended up bailing on this as we just procured Alectrona Patch for our 3rd party patching. If i remember correctly though it took several reboots of my 2017 imac on macOS 12.x in order for the command to finally execute.

SMR1
Contributor III

How's Alectrona working for you?

I am also interested in your thoughts of Alectrona Patch.

bmack99
Contributor III

So Alectrona Patch has worked out fairly well for us. We aren't using it in the traditional sense, in that we have a monthly patch cadence and rather than only run Alectrona during that time frame and utilize dialog boxes to force users to close open apps for patching, we have a custom script that Alectrona setup for us that runs daily and continually updates apps in the catalog. There are some pros, and some cons to this method:

Pros:

-Apps are up to date

-Completely hands off, all automated

-Completely silent - no user interaction or disruption

Cons:

-long policy run times (sudo jamf policy now takes upwards of 20 mins to complete when Alectrona Patch policies are triggered because it runs through the entire patch catalog and updates any titles that are found on the system

-Apps that are open at the time of run go into a deferral mode and won't get updated until the next patch policy run AND if the app is closed on that run

-Running in silent mode unfortunately has revealed a lot of our mac users who leave every app under the sun open ALL the TIME and NEVER reboot their systems.

 

All in all though we are very happy with Alectrona, and with their support.