Self Service Programs

Sobchak
Contributor

Is there a way to have programs only show up in Self Service if the program is not currently installed?

Here is what I have tried so far: I created a smart group for computers that did not have Firefox. Made a policy for Firefox to be in the self service store (scoped to the new smart group). Firefox appeared properly. I than uninstalled Firefox and waited for the next check-in, but Firefox did not reappear. I than forced an inventory update on the computer but Firefox still did not reappear.

I know I could flush the policy from the computer to make it show up, but I am looking for a way to automate it.

2 ACCEPTED SOLUTIONS

tuinte
Contributor III

strider.knh's got it right.

The JSS (Casper Database) won't see Firefox as installed on the computer until that computer updates its inventory. When an update inventory is run on the machine, it will see Firefox and remove the computer from your Needs Firefox smart group (and by extension Self Service). Adding an update inventory into the Firefox policy itself will have it update immediately following the install. Be warned this adds one or two (or three or four) minutes to the policy runtime.

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tomt
Valued Contributor

That sounds like it is working exactly as expected with your settings. At my shop I have the inventory set to update daily.

I've also created an Update Inventory policy that is only triggered by Self Service. That way if I need the machine to recon it can be done by the user when prompted. It saves a lot of waiting if I'm not able to remote into the box immediately.

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13 REPLIES 13

tuinte
Contributor III

In your Self Service policy for installing Firefox, what's the execution frequency set to?

Sobchak
Contributor

Once per computer.

strider_knh
Contributor II

You are missing something in what you have. You go from having the policy and it appearing in Self Service to you removing Firefox. You don't say how Firefox got onto the station.

If you used the policy install Firefox and the policy is set to Once per Computer it will never appear again in Self Service until the Firefox policy log for that computer is flushed.

One option is to set the policy to continuous. This will mean that the computer can install it as many times as it wants as long as it is in the scope. In other words, once Firefox is removed from a station and the inventory is updated it will once again be a member of your Smart Group and Firefox should once again appear in Self Service.

Sobchak
Contributor

Sorry, after it appeared in self service I installed Firefox. Than I uninstalled it.

If you switch it from once per computer to ongoing it never disappears from self service.

strider_knh
Contributor II

Once you install Firefox and it updated the inventory record it will be removed from your Smart Group and so Firefox should not appear in Self Service for that station. You can add the Update Inventory as part of the policy to force this immediately.

tuinte
Contributor III

strider.knh's got it right.

The JSS (Casper Database) won't see Firefox as installed on the computer until that computer updates its inventory. When an update inventory is run on the machine, it will see Firefox and remove the computer from your Needs Firefox smart group (and by extension Self Service). Adding an update inventory into the Firefox policy itself will have it update immediately following the install. Be warned this adds one or two (or three or four) minutes to the policy runtime.

Chris_Hafner
Valued Contributor II

@strider.knh][/url][/url almost. Or, perhaps, it depends on your version of JSS. After... 9.5 I think, Selecting "update inventory" now runs an inventory check at a slightly later point in the background so as not to slow down the "install" in self service. If you want an inventory to run "immediately" after the install you need to add 'jamf recon' under 'execute command' in your policy to remove it from self service immediately.

strider_knh
Contributor II

@Chris_Hafner: Thanks, I had not realized that. In the past month we have gone from 9.4 to 9.5 to 9.6 so I am still finding those little differences.

Chris_Hafner
Valued Contributor II

There are many of those ;-) Overall I like the feature yet I tend to live by my smart groups and need them updated very very quickly so my users don't try re-installing something they just installed.

That said, @jnuc I learned of many different ways to get to the same point while simplifying our users experience. I'd love to get my hands on the 'Good Neighbor' scripts and processes from Jason Borchardt... that is, if his lawyers let him ;-)

Sobchak
Contributor

Thank you for all of your help.

Still not quite where I want to be though. So all of these changes. Have caused the following: Firefox appears in self service if the computer does not have it. When you install Firefox it disappears from self service. If you uninstall Firefox it does not* reappear in self service.

*It reappears in self service the next time the computer runs inventory.

Currently we have inventory updating once a week. Do we need to change that to make self service work the way I want?

nessts
Valued Contributor II

Yes if you want things to appear and disappear in Self Service based off of smart groups the only way to do that is to run inventory at the end of every job that could change a smart group. Realize though that every inventory takes up space in your database (I think)

tomt
Valued Contributor

That sounds like it is working exactly as expected with your settings. At my shop I have the inventory set to update daily.

I've also created an Update Inventory policy that is only triggered by Self Service. That way if I need the machine to recon it can be done by the user when prompted. It saves a lot of waiting if I'm not able to remote into the box immediately.

Chris_Hafner
Valued Contributor II

Size of the database can be an issue if you're a huge installation. I've got 650 concurrent OS X units under full management and a number of iOS devices (Always in flux). We have an inventory once a day and a checkin every 15 min. No issues at all and database performance is spectacular.

If you were really that deep into it you could have a process running to keep track of those things but that might be a little over the top. Do you have major issues with users uninstalling necessary programs such as Firefox? I'm just really curious to know what the deeper issue is?