Self Service as a way to get the JAMF client deployed in new environment?

[donmontalvo]

We have a client with roughly 2000 Macs and it's taking longer than planned to get the JAMF client deployed. Is it possible to set up Self Service and give everyone at the firm access to the client installer?

I'm hoping the Self Service feature doesn't have any requirements on the client side, and that the client we deploy can be preconfigured to call in. Thoughts?

Don

[jarednichols]

To use self service, you need the client.

What I did was set up a guest access file share where users can download the
client as a Quick Add package. It gets them in and once they're in I can do
what I please with their machines to bring them up to spec.

j

[dhowell]

you can set up Self Service to be one a web browser address here is the article http://www.jamfsoftware.com/kb/article.php?id1 the only thing it doesn't tell you is that you must have the login preference set for Self Service, it can be login or Anonymous.

D. Trey Howell ACMT, ACPT, ACDT, ACHDS
trey.howell at austinisd.org
Desktop Engineering
twitter @aisdmacgeek

[karthikeyan_mac]

Hi Don,

I feel the sharing the quick add package will help. We can even try network scanner in Recon.

Regards,
Karthikeyan M.

[abenedict]

The network scanner was the best part or Recon for me. I have a google doc
that lists all of the computers in the company and it was fairly easy to
cross reference that to make sure I got all of my clients.

--
Alan Benedict
?
Macintosh Technician
The Integer Group
O: 515-247-2738
C: 515-770-8234
http://www.integer.com

[donmontalvo]

Hi Karthikeyan,

Awesome, that should speed things up. Just curious, how large is the
installer? And is it a flat pkg in case we need to email to some
remote users?

Thanks,
Don

[karthikeyan_mac]

Hi Don.

It size is 1.2MB (approx). Its not a flat package. We can zip the pkg and email.

Regards,
Karthikeyan Marappan.

[donmontalvo]

Great, in the interest of avoiding a two step process for the users,
would it be possible to convert the installer to a flat file?

JAMF: Maybe a feature request...option to provide flat pkg client
installers? :)

[#9]

Our best luck was using Recon to create a QuickAdd package and dropping onto
the ARD lists we already had built.

Is there some tech or anyone who would have an ARD list of all the macs
you're deploying to? How were they managed previously?

Otherwise, as Karthikeyan said, Recon's network scanner is an option,
provided the IP segments are organized enough that you can pick out the
machines you want.

Bob

[donmontalvo]

Thanks Karthikeyan, Thomas, Bob and Dustin!

The environment we inherited was never really managed. The techs didn't keep careful records of the number of Macs, or where they're deployed to, what subnets they're on, etc., so it's a bit of a logistical challenge. The techs used ARD but were only able to get to 500 or so workstations, then another 200 were done by sneaker-net. Obviously at this rate we're never going to get done.

Seems like the only real options we have is to blast the installer out by email to all the Mac users. The concern is that zip'd files would require two steps (decompress/install), which would reduce the number that actually get done, where flat pkg installers will get to the users intact and provide one double-click action to get done.

I guess I'll hop over to the installer-dev list to see what options we have in getting a flat pkg created and deployed.

Thanks,
Don