New beta software update feature - how to track update progress?

[user-dIrrpGXxza]

When using the new software update feature (BETA), how do you know if something is happening? If I understand this correctly, even if you choose to "Download, update and install", this is done through DDM, am I right? Is it also so that declarations are "invisible" in the command history? If yes, how do I track deployment progress?

I selected a group that contains iOS 15-17 devices. Even on the iOS 15 devices, I can't see any ScheduleOSUpdate commands. Shouldn't there be such commands as DDM software updates aren't available in iOS 15 or am I missing something?

Same thing for macOS BTW, I chose a group that contains macOS 12-14 machines, still no visible trace of activity there.

[AJPinto]

how do you know if something is happening?

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Unfortunately, you really dont. You can individually check device inventory records and it will tell you what the device is up to (usually), but that is as good as it gets. I wind up just checking smart groups a few days after deploying updates to see what should have updated and has not updated yet so I know which devices to look at.

[user-dIrrpGXxza]

Well, it seems like those commands eventually make it out, but several hours later. Perhaps because the iOS device group contains just below 40k devices. :)

One other similar thing. As it's now possible to select both device groups and computer groups at the same time, I assume there are limitations as to what upgrade options can be used? For instance, I assume "Download, install and allow deferral" isn't available for iOS devices? If that's true, wouldn't it make sens if JAMF pro would limit the choices you have available based on at the very least if you have selected smart groups with computers, devices or both? How do you other fellow jamf admins treat this? WHich option do you choose to get the best results?

[jamf-42]

there are a couple of EA's you can use.. while far from perfect they provide at least some insight which can then be used in smart groups..

The beta interface is very poor, providing next to no information and combining iOS and macOS.. needs a load of work to be become production ready.. 

https://community.jamf.com/t5/jamf-pro/extension-attributes-to-report-on-ddm-scheduled-macos-updates...

[user-dIrrpGXxza]

At least I can answer some of my own questions now after thoroughly reading the following docs:

https://learn.jamf.com/en-US/bundle/jamf-pro-documentation-current/page/Updating_iOS_iPadOS_and_tvOS...

https://learn.jamf.com/en-US/bundle/jamf-pro-documentation-current/page/Updating_macOS_Groups_Using_...

The conclusion is that some are exclusive to macOS and will have no effect on iOS/iPadOS even though it's selectable. To me, this is primarily a UI issue. More info can easily be added on that screen, and choices that have no effect should be at least easily be unselectable if an incompatible type of group was selected.

Then, when it comes to speed, it's just d-a-m-n slow after the process has been executed. For a group of ca 30k devices, it took several hours before the AvailableOSUpdates commands started showing up on devices that updated inventory. So it's waaay slower than the traditional workflow too. Also, it seems like the update flow doesn't happen until the device updates inventory, which means that the device needs to be actively used for it to receive an update command - if my initial observations were correct.

So far, I haven't really been able to see the benefits as we run on-prem and can't use the deadline/schedule option anyway. The only advantage I'm guessing there is so far is that devices that are offline for some reson when the update is issued do receive the AvailableOSUpdates "freshly issued" by JAMF once they are alive again, which means that this command hasn't expired for infrequently used devices. How effective that is, and how much less we need to re-issue update workflows to reach more devices remains to be seen at this point. But the prognosis is promising from this factor. However, the downside is that more devices receive the update command during the day instead of overnight, which puts more strain on the network during primetime.

Overall, it's different, but not necessarily better. But not necessarily worse either. Pretty underwhelming if you've been waiting for the holy grail to finally get predictable and working update workflows with a high success rate at the first shot. And yes, I know, this is primarily an Apple issue. But still! I like Intunes approach best so far, which is automatic continous retries until the desired version has been reached (Update policy).

[jamf-42]

even with JAMF Cloud, DDM and scheduled macOS updates with a cutoff, Im still see devices that don't update. There was a JAMF PI regarding the option selected, only a point update and update based on eligibility worked..  not sure thats been fixed in 11.3 

With any mass update, I would always stage the updates.. for 101 reasons.. sending out to 30k devices in one go.. may not all go to plan..