New Macs and going serverless

[hr32]

Hi All

 

Looking for a bit of advice here. We are a Windows school with two windows servers and user Google G Suite.

 

We are now moving in a different direction and getting Mac Laptops for the teaching staff as well as trying to move towards being server-less.

So my question is, what way do you suggest I manage the Mac computers when a MacServer is not an option.

The plan is to ditch the Windows Servers in a couple years and use Intune to manage any remaining Windows devices as well as the iPads we have.

 

Please provide any thoughts or ideas you have! I've looked at managing the devices with Intune but since we are sticking with G Suite it seems a silly way to do it and there isn't much functionality in the console for MacOS.

 

Thanks

[Zoom7000]

Hi All

 

Looking for a bit of advice here. We are a Windows school with two windows servers and user Google G Suite.

 

We are now moving in a different direction and getting Mac Laptops for the teaching staff as well as trying to move towards being server-less.

So my question is, what way do you suggest I manage the Mac computers when a MacServer is not an option.

The plan is to ditch the Windows Servers in a couple years and use Intune to manage any remaining Windows devices as well as the iPads we have.

 

Please provide any thoughts or ideas you have! I've looked at managing the devices with Intune but since we are sticking with G Suite it seems a silly way to do it and there isn't much functionality in the console for MacOS.

 

Thanks

 

I'd consider Meraki MDM for managing the Macs and the iPads. Lots you can do with server-less management in the Meraki cloud.

 

Just a thought, but if you are using G Suite, why not consider Chromebooks for the staff, or is there a specific offline app on macOS that you need the staff to use? The cost savings from Chromebook to MacBook would be huge.

[aarongulley]

I would recommend using JAMF to manage your macbooks, it has another level of control and a lot of self-service features to make your life easier.

You will lose elements like caching from the mac server.

[Brimstone]

I would recommend using JAMF to manage your macbooks, it has another level of control and a lot of self-service features to make your life easier.

You will lose elements like caching from the mac server.

 

+1 for using Jamf to manage the Macs, can be integrated with Intune as well. You no longer need macOS server for caching, you can just use a Mac running 10.13.

[Carter]

For my organization we will be in the same situation relying on InTune and and I would assume a mix of Munki for full deployment of Apple Desktops and Laptops and to control all mobile devices college wide including iOS and Android. With InTune tied into our Azure subscription InTune is what's being pushed. As much as I'd love to go JAMF our issue is that JAMF is ONLY mac hardware. The college would not spend the money a solution that only supports one particular product vs. others MDM's that can handle multiple. I know JAMF is top of the game for MDM for Mac but to run and pay for two MDM solution seems a bit much.

 

With all of this said, over the next number of months my job is to fully test InTune to ensure it does everything we need.

[Brimstone]

For my organization we will be in the same situation relying on InTune and and I would assume a mix of Munki for full deployment of Apple Desktops and Laptops and to control all mobile devices college wide including iOS and Android. With InTune tied into our Azure subscription InTune is what's being pushed. As much as I'd love to go JAMF our issue is that JAMF is ONLY mac hardware. The college would not spend the money a solution that only supports one particular product vs. others MDM's that can handle multiple. I know JAMF is top of the game for MDM for Mac but to run and pay for two MDM solution seems a bit much.

 

With all of this said, over the next number of months my job is to fully test InTune to ensure it does everything we need.

 

Intune is unusable as an MDM to macOS as it can not deploy pkg's unlike Jamf. Jamf can integrate with Intune and SCCM

[Carter]

Intune is unusable as an MDM to macOS as it can not deploy pkg's unlike Jamf. Jamf can integrate with Intune and SCCM

 

Thanks for the heads up. I plan to dig into the service to see what it can handle and what it can't handle. Package deployment can still be largely handled by Munki as we've been using it for a few years now but sucks that InTune still can't handle this.

[free780]

I've tried SCCM for app deployment but the detection rules don't seem to work. Application keeps getting pushed out. Profile Manager just about works but I find I have to keep log files tailing to see what's going on.

[Norphy]

I've tried SCCM for app deployment but the detection rules don't seem to work. Application keeps getting pushed out. Profile Manager just about works but I find I have to keep log files tailing to see what's going on.

 

I’ve found that CMAppUtil goes waaaaaaay overboard with detection rules. It’s probably worth trying to trim a load out.

 

That said, I don’t use the built in Mac functionality of SCCM as it is pretty poor. I use a plugin from Parallels instead.