Reverting to an earlier OS and Security Benchmarks

[Jason]

My understanding is that when Apple comes out with new hardware today that it ships with Yosemite and it's not possible to reimage it with an earlier version like Mavericks. I'm not sure about schools, but financial companies and government agencies cant just upgrade right away. Many requirements need to be met before moving to the next version like meeting security benchmarks and validating application compatibility.

Is there a way to take a system that ships with Yosemite and load Mavericks on it? I wasn't able to NetBoot or boot from a thumb drive with Mavericks on it.

If not, what are others doing in-between the time Apple comes out with a new OS and a 3rd party (like CIS) release a security benchmark? In some cases it's not released until after Apples already moved on to a new OS.

[RobertHammen · Accepted solution]

If it's new hardware that only boots in the newer OS, your choices are to support the new OS immediately, if you can, or buy older hardware from some place that has stockpiled it. I typically start warning clients in September of each year that a new OS upgrade is coming and if they need new machines, to purchase what they expect to need for the next 3-6 months...

[RobertHammen · Accepted solution]

If it's new hardware that only boots in the newer OS, your choices are to support the new OS immediately, if you can, or buy older hardware from some place that has stockpiled it. I typically start warning clients in September of each year that a new OS upgrade is coming and if they need new machines, to purchase what they expect to need for the next 3-6 months...

[bentoms]

I normally lookup the macs in question either via the Mactracker app http://www.mactracker.ca or http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT1159

The "original OS" data will advise on what the oldest OS is that can be installed on those Macs.

[Jason]

Sounds like you guys are having to "make the best of the situation" then. As long as there is enough spares ahead of time things work out, but that could also end up being more costly if you overshoot and have more systems then you end up needing. Would be nice if Apple released driver updates to support the previous OS for a number of months (but not the case unfortunately).

It also sounds like you guys don't have to wait for security benchmarks. I think I'm still going to have to find a solution for that, because even if I get all my apps validated for the new OS, upgrade my servers, documentation, and my Configurations, I still can't put into users hands without a detailed security benchmark.

[mm2270 · Accepted solution]

Our hardware supplier, who buys from Apple, generally keeps an "ear to the ground" on rumors of new products coming and will order a bunch of the existing models to stockpile, because its hard to predict when Apple will cross that line and make the new model only boot the new OS. Its a sticky issue that anyone in the business of managing Macs eventually needs to deal with.
Its the primary reason you'll still see a lot of talks about how Apple is not "enterprise friendly"

As has been mentioned, the crossover often happens when a change in processor architecture or video card models comes along. If its just a RAM and/or processor speed bump, generally those Macs will still work with the previous OS version, even if they ship with something like Yosemite from the factory.

[Jason]

@mm2270, thanks that information helps. I was originally thinking it would be ALL new hardware would not be able to roll back. Understanding that it's usually the type of hardware change helps.