Configure MunkiReport groups with a Munki NoPkg

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Historically I have always configured our MunkiReport Machine Groups with a configuration profile delivered via Munki. However starting with macOS Big Sur, the ability to manage profiles from the command line was removed meaning Munki can no longer install or remove them.

One option would have been to move these configuration profiles to our MDM as I did for our other profiles. However I didn’t want to duplicate the effort of managing computer group assignments in both Munki and MDM.

Since maintaining groups in Munki to aid in software deployments is still required, I decided to use NoPkgs to configure our MunkiReport Machine Groups. This way they will be automatically changed whenever a computer gets moved to a different group (via included manifest). Read on for the details.

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Sony Alpha, PocketWizard and remote cameras

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Remote cameras mounted inside third at Minute Maid Park for ALDS Game 1.

Mirrorless cameras are the future and will eventually replace DSLRs. Like many photographers, I have started testing various mirrorless models for eventual use at the newspaper.

While differences and changes are to be expected, one thing in particular caught me by surprise when I setup a remote camera for my first test of the Sony A1 at the American League Division Series earlier this year.

Read on for the details…

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MacAdmins Podcast, Episode 240

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A few months ago I was invited to be a guest on the MacAdmins Podcast to talk with the crew about Apple Business Manager. I’ve been listening to “the pod” for years so I was honored to be asked.

October is busy with playoff baseball but the scheduling worked out and we recorded on the ALCS travel day after Game 2. So of course we talked about baseball photography a little as well.

It was my first time as a podcast guest but Tom, Charles and Marcus made it easy plus James did a great job editing out my flubs!

macOS Monterey was released between when we recorded and when it published this morning, so some of the new features we talk about as “coming soon” are now available. MacAdmins finally have the ability to add off-the-shelf Macs purchased at retail into ABM using the new Configurator for iOS app!

Hopefully we answered some questions, shed some light on potential pitfalls and provided helpful information for anyone who uses ABM or needs to set it up for the first time.

If you don’t already subscribe to the podcast head on over to the site to listen:
MacAdmins Podcast, Episode 240: Kevin M. Cox on AxM

Microsoft now provides curated deferral channels for AutoUpdate

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February 25, 2024: There curated deferral channels are no longer being updated. Please read: Changes to Microsoft AutoUpdate deferral options

Microsoft’s Paul Bowden announced on Tuesday at Virtual JNUC 2021 that the company is now providing additional update channels that support deferring updates for periods of time and even pausing updates on specific versions of Microsoft Office for Mac.

While these new options were announced at JNUC and Jamf Pro has native support for configuring them, MacAdmins who use a different MDM can also utilize them with custom configuration profiles right away.

I reached out to Paul for more details and clarification on these exciting new options. Read on for the details.

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MAUCacheAdmin has been updated to version 3.0

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MAUCacheAdmin was updated to version 3.0 this afternoon to account for a change in the CDN infrastructure that serves Microsoft Office for Mac updates. As was reported in the #microsoft-autoupdate channel of the MacAdmins Slack yesterday, version 2.9 was marking every package as corrupt and re-downloading them all on each run.

From Paul Bowden’s commit notes:

In the October 2021 update, Microsoft moved to a new CDN namespace (officecdnmac.microsoft.com) which supports HTTP/2

However, the previous version of MAUCacheAdmin relied on the HTTP/1.1 ‘Content-Length’ header – which is all lowercase in HTTP/2

So:
1. Changed awk search to grep -i as it’s still possible for the new CDN to emit a HTTP/1.1 response in some cases
2. Changed main URL definitions to new namespace of officecdnmac.microsoft.com

Also fixed up a few other problems:
* Removed MAU 3.x definition
* Added 365/2021 to existing 2019 title (visual change only)
* Updated copyright year

MacAdmins who run a MAU Manifest and/or Caching server should update to the latest version of the code to prevent these looping downloads.

Office 2021 information for MacAdmins

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On Sept. 16, Microsoft released Office LTSC for Mac 2021 to commercial customers ahead of the October 5 launch to general consumers. LTSC, or Long Term Servicing Channel, is the new official name of Office for customers with a perpetual Volume License.

If your company has Office 365 subscription licenses you can stop reading here. Nothing changes for you and your users will always have the latest features as soon as they are released. However if you deploy the Volume Serializer keep reading for what’s new.

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Allow standard users to manage printers with a Munki NoPkg

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Employees at our company all use Standard (non-admin) accounts on macOS and install printers via Managed Software Center. By default this only gives them the ability to install and uninstall in MSC, but not manage queues or add personal printers at home in System Preferences.

Thankfully a simple command that can be run to allow standard users to have that ability has been around for years:

dseditgroup -o edit -n /Local/Default -a staff -t group _lpadmin

(Variations of this script posted around the web include using everyone instead of staff and lpadmin instead of _lpadmin.)

In the past I have always enabled this feature with a payload-free package. However that didn’t present a way to confirm the setting is still active or provide an easy way to reverse it.

To solve those issues I decided to convert it to a Munki NoPkg with logic to do both.

Read on for the details:

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Baseball photography laptop stand

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Shooting from the stands in an empty stadium during the 2020 COVID season was a unique experience.

I photograph a lot of Major League Baseball. The continually changing restrictions due to COVID-19 means we have been positioned in many different places at Minute Maid Park during the past two seasons.

Professional baseball photographers shoot, edit and transmit in a continuous cycle during the game; taking advantage of any slow down in play to catch up on the previous inning. This requires keeping our laptops close by as we are shooting the game.

I am frequently asked about the stand I use to hold my laptop for in-game editing so I decided to compile the details for easy sharing. Keep reading if you are interested.

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Installing AirPrinters “offline”

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In my last post, AirPrint Generator, I noted that one of the potential issues with programmatically installing AirPrinters is that the client computer needs to be able to actively communicate with the printer at the time of installation. This quickly came up in discussion on the MacAdmins Slack.

As I outlined there, we can work around this by generating the AirPrint PPDs and Icons, packaging them up and deploying them to the client computers ahead of time.

This method presents several advantages, read on for the details.

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AirPrint Generator

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MacAdmins have known for several years now that PPD files are deprecated and AirPrint is the way forward. However many of us have put off transitioning due to a lack of automated configuration options.

That all changed with the HP Printer Driver Certificate Fiasco of October 2020. With the first official remediation option being to reconfigure using AirPrint, this project suddenly moved up the to-do list for many admins, myself included.

Instead of continuing to make users sit through lengthy installs of HP’s enormous driver packages I decided to build on the work of others and create AirPrint_Generator. Read on for the details.

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