Looking to Switch from FileWave to Jamf!

igrathen
New Contributor III

Hello all,

We are currently using FileWave to manage all our iOS and macOS based products!

We have been looking into Jamf a little as we are not getting all our needs met / aren't completely happy with FileWave.

Hopefully someone can help with the following questions we have:
1. Can you organize devices by the Apple ID that is signed into the device?

  • Additionally, can you associate profiles/apps to a specific user group?
    That way, when the student signs in to their Apple ID, the iPad will pull anything that is associated to the group the user belongs to?

2. What all are you using the "Users" information for?

  • FileWave does not pull any information so we are only able to assign profiles/apps to devices and devices only!

 

3. Has anyone used FileWave before and has switched to Jamf?

  • What was the main reason?
  • Are you happy with the change?
  • Was it easy to transfer already created profiles and apps to Jamf?

 

I appreciate any and all help!

Thank you,

5 REPLIES 5

jcarr
Release Candidate Programs Tester

1.  The Apple ID used is the user's private info, so not collected in inventory, but assuming you are Federated against the same IdP used for authenticated enrollment (e.g. Azure AD or Google Workspace), the user's Managed Apple ID will be the same as the user assigned in Jamf.  That being said, you still want to assign apps and profiles to devices, not users.  The behavior is different for user assigned apps & profiles.  You still want the apps and profiles assigned to the device, you just want that device to fall into scope if a particular user is assigned.  Currently "username" (and "user phone number" for mobile devices) is the only attribute that can be used as criteria for smart computer/device groups.

 

2. Can I assume that you mean you are not currently using authenticated enrollment?  Perhaps this is why you don't have user info in FileWave?

igrathen
New Contributor III

Thank you for the response Jcarr!

Yes are using Federated IDs to authenticate enrollment!
I was asking more along the lines of how Google Admin Console allows you to organize user account OUs and push extenstions and such to those OUs.

It seems that Jamf is also very "device centric" and you are unable to push applications based on what Apple ID is signed into the device.

2. We do use enterprise enrollment but all that does is populate a "auth_username" field in FileWave.
I could be mistaken but, there isn't any means of organizing those "auth_username"s to properly push any kind of policies or profiles as Google Admin Console would.

jcarr
Release Candidate Programs Tester

It's not just Jamf.  Apple calls is mobile DEVICE management for a reason.  😁

 

You could use a script that calls the API to query the associated user, and based on that username, assign the device to a group, or just set the DEPARTMENT attribute (or some other EA), and then scope items by department, or have devices fall into groups based on EA values.

 

Good luck!

Eltord
Contributor

3. We lived in the dark days with Filewave to manage our fleet of about 1000 Mac's, but switched to Jamf 4-5 years ago. There was the obvious difficulty of getting all the devices enrolled into jamf, meaning you had to reenroll via dep, but if you create custom packages and profiles, then Jamf can accept those as long as they are in the correct file format (dmg/pkg for packages, plist or mobileconfig for profiles) and they will work as expected. If not, then in your transition period you can work with Jamf to help you get these items migrated over in your jumpstart. Managing that many devices in the Filewave console in the manual way you had to do it, I'll never look back honestly. As someone who did that transition, its a completely different way of managing devices, and you'll get info on your fleet that you've never had before, which will make most management happy.

 

If you are really wanting to speak with someone with experience, then you should actually contact Jamf and talk to them about talking to someone who's had similar experience. Occasionally Jamf will look to current customers to share their experience with prospective customers in similar scenarios through them.

igrathen
New Contributor III

Thank you for the response, Shelton!

We do have a demo coming up with Jamf themselves.
I figured I would at least reach out and hear from actual customers as we approach that demo date!