Thunderbolt gig ethernet

[mike_pinto]

Hey all, I was hoping someone may have a possible solution for an issue I ran into this morning. We have some software that we've made available in Self Service only over ethernet. We have some thunderbolt gig ethernet adapters to use with our MacBook Air's. When you plug this in as a standard user it will recognize the new interface, but will need an administrator to apply the change. This, however, is rather inconvenient. I can use networksetup to create a new service, but this will only work once the adapter is plugged in.

Any idea's or suggestions?

[The_Tiger]

I remember having this issue with our old model of MacBooks.
Apple then released a firmware update that can fix this issue. try to update the firmware on that particular MacBook and see how it goes.

[mike_pinto]

I thought the same thing, but unfortunately see no updates available.

[The_Tiger]

What MacBook Model is it happening on?
What OS X have you got on it?
Are you trying to check for update from Apple directly or your own internal update server?

[mike_pinto]

MacBook Air (Mid 2013) on 10.8.5. I'm going directly to Apple for updates.

Thanks

[mike_pinto]

I can get it working if I grant a non-admin user access to the network pref pane. This, however, is kind of scary. I could always revert the authorization file when the policy finishes, but the policy is only seen over Ethernet so I'd have to create another policy to grant permission beforehand. I don't believe this to be a viable solution.

[nessts]

you could write a policy that runs on network change assuming you are on 9.22 JSS, or install a launch daemon to watch for the new adapter, and configure it dynamically. Does each person have their own Gig-E adapter or are they sharing some for this policy? if the gig-E adapter is plugged in at the very first boot it should configure the interface automatically. I do this with Air and Retina machines and my firstboot accout has no admin access.

[mike_pinto]

I would assume the policy on network change wouldn't work since there is no change being made (until an admin allows it to do so). We have fifteen adapters at the moment so they'll be sharing. It won't install automatically on boot and I even tried it on my personal Air with the same results.

[nessts]

not on boot, the first boot ever for the OS, will look for attached network adapters and configure them. And its possible that the network change event might trigger the policy, when you plug it in, the system sees it and starts the configuration process, prompts you for an admin password right? I would probably just write a launch daemon and install it on all the machines to configure the thing when it appears.

[mike_pinto]

Oh, sorry I misread that. I'll give it a go with the launch daemon as I like that idea a lot more. Thanks for the help and quick response!