Smart Lists based on package cache

[Janowski]

We're trying to create a multi-staged set of policies. It goes a little something like this.

Policy 1
Caches our CS5 package. Then it creates a list of machines that have it cached and that's the scope of our next policy.

Policy 2
Install the cached CS5. It also caches the installer for our font management solution. This smart group is the scope of our third policy.

Policy 3
Install cached font management software.

Our third policy has to disable the font management software for the upgrade to take place, which is why I would like to keep it separate from the other installs - to minimize the downtime of this application (users may still need font activation in cs4 if this policy runs while they are working).

One and two seem to happen just fine, but I have a 50/50 success rate with machines getting added to the Second smart group and thusly executing the third policy.
Most times, if a machine is missed i can do a "jamf recon" and it'll get added appropriately. Each policy has "Update Inventory" checked.

Anyone ever try anything like this before?
Do I maybe need to force a restart at the end of Policy 2 just to ensure the recon happens?

ben janowski
Senior Macintosh Support Technician
Kohl's Mac Support Team
262.703.1396 | benjamin.janowski at kohls.com

[Janowski]

I may have thought of a work around to this.

I could just assign all 3 policies to my user group right off of the bat. Then Set Policies 2 & 3 to run off of a custom trigger. Policies 1 & 2 then could have a script set to 'after' that would run a command tripping the custom trigger. If that works, it would run all 3 policies in sequence and there would be no worries about smart groups updating...

If anyone else has done sequential policies I'd be interested in hearing your solutions too.

thanks all :)

ben janowski
Senior Macintosh Support Technician
Kohl's Mac Support Team
262.703.1396 | benjamin.janowski at kohls.com

[Achilles]

When i do multiple policy's based on other policy's I use the custom trigger. However this will only work if i don't need to use the Advanced "Run Command" for anything else.

You could also have policy's based on smart groups created by either specific files that get populated or by package receipts. (Which it souds like your already doing.)

You might want to separate the font cache into a separate policy that then triggers the install. You could use the same "install cached" policy for both the CS and the Font management.

[mm2270]

The 'Advanced > Run Command' is capable of running more than one command. Just use the standard semi-colon option at the end of the command preceding the next.

Example:

jamf displayMessage -message "Installation complete"; jamf policy -trigger installNextApp