LukeJQuinn Posted October 28, 2013 Posted October 28, 2013 We have a server running OS X Mavericks. The server is running the lastest version of OS X Server (£13.99 later) along with WorkGroup Manager 10.9 (421). The server works great as it stands now as all the client machines that connect to the server are all running Mountain Lion (10.8). UNTIL...We update a client to Mavericks..Then it all goes wrong. Once the client is running Mavericks, their logins go mental and don't work. We use Active Directory so their logins work over the mac and windows server. As I said this all works great until we update a client to Mavericks. Can anyone please help? What do I need to change on my servers for this to work?! Thanks Luke
SovietRussia Posted October 28, 2013 Posted October 28, 2013 Sort of off topic: I was just about to upgrade our macs, im going to hangfire now!
LukeJQuinn Posted October 28, 2013 Author Posted October 28, 2013 Not a bad idea but after a bit of testing, I think the macs require a fresh install not a upgrade for things to work. Maybe grab one mac and test it as I've done. I will post back when I've set one up with a fresh install
xenonive Posted October 28, 2013 Posted October 28, 2013 We have had issue with upgrades before and fresh install solved the issues , we also renamed them differently so server saw them as new machines too.
LukeJQuinn Posted October 28, 2013 Author Posted October 28, 2013 Damn! Did a fresh install and still nothing It sets the message on the login screen but thats it. Any more idea anyone? I'm begging you! ha!
rad Posted October 28, 2013 Posted October 28, 2013 I wont hit the upgrade button either, sorry that's not helping I know.
kcalderw Posted October 28, 2013 Posted October 28, 2013 Luke, try joining and posting to this e-mail list. It's been a wealth of knowledge for me. Archives of [email protected]
LukeJQuinn Posted October 28, 2013 Author Posted October 28, 2013 (edited) Cheers Mate, just sent an email over UPDATE. Says I'm not allowed to email the address :/ Edited October 28, 2013 by LukeJQuinn
LukeJQuinn Posted October 29, 2013 Author Posted October 29, 2013 (edited) UPDATE: After doing a fresh install on the client mac to mavericks, still no user policies are set. Other machines running Mountain Lion work fine so I can only guess that there is a bug in which the way it gets settings from the server. The Server is running Mavericks, OS X Server 3.0 and Workgroup Manager 10.9. Just about to Re-image and update the mac while logged onto the network to see if that makes a difference. Mavericks works fine in a home/non networked situation. I use it at home and around work on macs that aren't networked to the mac server. So I'd say you'll be fine upgrading if you're not using it while on a network http://staticc2.cdngeek.net/images/smilies/biggrin.png I will post my results some time today, meanwhile if anyone has any other ideas or has the same issue please post. Thanks Edited October 29, 2013 by LukeJQuinn
SovietRussia Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 Just a hint, Workgroup Manager is "unofficially" supported, they no longer "support" this method of client management, you are supposed to in the "apple world" use Profile Manager to manage macs.
mitchell1981 Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 This is terrible! Workgroup manager worked fine, and was really easy to set up. Profile Manager seems very flakey and broken! I've just spent the whole day playing with it, and have now given up. Machines are enrolled, but the server seems very reluctant to actually push the settings out. I've tried both computer settings, and user settings. Managed to get a machine to pick up computer settings once, but then it ignored any changes I made, just not pushing them out. User settings (targetted at an AD group) don't seem to push out at all. Anyone had any luck with getting profile manager to work reliably? Looks like we are going to have to stick with Mountain Lion for now. Don't understand why Apple updated Workgroup Manager if they weren't planning to make it actually work!
SovietRussia Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 This is terrible! Workgroup manager worked fine, and was really easy to set up. Profile Manager seems very flakey and broken! I've just spent the whole day playing with it, and have now given up. Machines are enrolled, but the server seems very reluctant to actually push the settings out. I've tried both computer settings, and user settings. Managed to get a machine to pick up computer settings once, but then it ignored any changes I made, just not pushing them out. User settings (targetted at an AD group) don't seem to push out at all. Anyone had any luck with getting profile manager to work reliably? Looks like we are going to have to stick with Mountain Lion for now. Don't understand why Apple updated Workgroup Manager if they weren't planning to make it actually work! Our profile manager for our iOS devices works, but aint tried Mac clients yet. I think we are going to upgrade our server here, but not our clients
LukeJQuinn Posted October 30, 2013 Author Posted October 30, 2013 Profile Manager is less functional and based more on iPads/iPhones than Macs. Spent all day using it and still don't match WM. I have found a work around to get WM to pick up the right policies - by adding every user manually (takes the piss so depends how badly you want to use Mavericks) So that's all folks....unless Apple sees this as a bug which is what I'm hoping. We are screwed and left with Profile Manager which ain't great. Cheers Apple
stevehp Posted October 31, 2013 Posted October 31, 2013 (edited) While it was updated for use on 10.9, Workgroup Manager uses managed client or MCX to push out computer or user level preferences. Since 10.8 MCX has been deprecated i.e. being disassembled and no longer updated as mdm's such as Profile Manager are more flexible for sysadmins since the settings are "pushed" to the client rather than the client pulling them from the server (which involves logout/login, or restarts to refresh). FYI computer level policies using MCX still work. User / Group level settings are broken because of the deprecation I mentioned above. So in short WGM was updated simply so that a 10.9 client could manage 10.8 or 10.7 servers. User / Group management should be done in Server.app, WGM has a tendency to corrupt the kerberos database. It's either you start working with Profile Manager or another mdm or you use foss tools such as Munki, mcxtoprofile, Puppet, etc.. for osx client management. We have been coming down on staff hard if they upgrade to 10.9. I've blocked the upgrade through the app store so the link they click goes nowhere. Edited October 31, 2013 by stevehp
Roberto Posted October 31, 2013 Posted October 31, 2013 We're managing OSX clients via SCCM 2012 - using Profile Manager to generate preferences and SCCM to deliver/enforce them and this works well. We've upgraded about 70% of our mac fleet to mavericks so far and not had any issues with this setup. Only useful if you're already using the right version of SCCM to manage your PC fleet, I know, but if you are then its worth a thought...
LukeJQuinn Posted November 4, 2013 Author Posted November 4, 2013 Yeah guys, seems you're right. To use govern Mavericks you have to use Profile Manager not Workgroup Manager. Slightly annoying and it means more work for me but hey ho...Still begs the question that if Apple plan on fading out Workgroup Manager, why they released a new version for Mavericks? Madness. So so sum up, use Profile Manager and forget Workgroup manager.
LukeJQuinn Posted November 12, 2013 Author Posted November 12, 2013 I have given up on Profile Manager. If you use Workgroup manager and ain't bothered about permissions for different types of users then I have found a solution !! ....... Set all the policies using the global computer settings. So all users get the same dock layout and so on. This saves using Profile manager and still allows the easy use of Workgroup manager. Thanks for your help guys. P.S just posted a thread about Launchpad - give a look for me please - Cheers
Mark182 Posted November 12, 2013 Posted November 12, 2013 We are having a nightmare with this as well!
Sheridan Posted November 13, 2013 Posted November 13, 2013 I'm looking into this for our 10.6.8 Clients and Server, but I'm just double checking the facts! To use 10.9 clients we'd have to upgrade the server to 10.9 first? To use WM on the clients we'd have to keep them all the same version (clients and server) so 10.6.8 or 10.9? I've upgrade one client to 10.9 as a test and it doesn't pick up any preferences, so I guess I've half answered my question! And WM 10.9 doesn't work when trying to connect to 10.6.8 server I guess i'll be scheduling in a full upgrade of server and macs sometime soon, is the free upgrade 10.9 time limited does anyone know?
stevehp Posted November 13, 2013 Posted November 13, 2013 I'm looking into this for our 10.6.8 Clients and Server, but I'm just double checking the facts! To use 10.9 clients we'd have to upgrade the server to 10.9 first? To use WM on the clients we'd have to keep them all the same version (clients and server) so 10.6.8 or 10.9? I've upgrade one client to 10.9 as a test and it doesn't pick up any preferences, so I guess I've half answered my question! And WM 10.9 doesn't work when trying to connect to 10.6.8 server I guess i'll be scheduling in a full upgrade of server and macs sometime soon, is the free upgrade 10.9 time limited does anyone know? Upgrade servers first then clients. If you push out mcx settings from an older version of server you might have some mismatched settings that work and others that don't because they have been deprecated. Like the others have said only computer level mcx preferences are pushing out of 10.9 server. An MDM server should be investigated for the future. The other thing to consider is that if you use the Software Update server 10.6.8 server or even 10.8 server can't serve updates to 10.9 clients. 10.9 will remain free i.e. not a limited time offer. Just make sure your Macs are supported.
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