Identifying Universal 2 apps on macOS Mojave and later
As Apple introduces its new Apple Silicon Macs, it’s important that Mac admins be able to identify if their environment’s software will be able to run natively on both Intel and Apple Silicon as...
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Resizing an AWS macOS EC2 instance’s boot drive to use all available disk space
I’ve started working with Amazon Web Service’s new macOS EC2 instances and after a while, I noticed that no matter how much EBS drive space I assigned to a EC2 instance running macOS, the instance...
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Setting up AutoPkg, AutoPkgr and JSSImporter on an Amazon Web Services macOS...
One of the outcomes of the recent Amazon Web Service’s Insight conference was AWS’s announcement that, as of November 30th, macOS EC2 instances were going to be available as on-demand instances or as...
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Adobe Flash is dead – let’s get it removed
After 24 years and 1078 known security vulnerabilities, Adobe Flash has reached end of life status as of December 31, 2020. To assist with the process of removing Adobe Flash, I’ve written an uninstall...
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FileVault login screen differences between Intel and Apple Silicon Macs
As new Apple Silicon Macs (ASM) have begun making their way to organizations which use FileVault encryption to secure their fleets, a difference between Intel Macs and ASMs has become apparent. Intel...
View ArticleBacking up Der Flounder Revisited
Nine years ago, I wrote a post on how I backup this blog. Overall, the reasons I’m backing up haven’t changed: I like this blog and don’t want to see it or its data disappear because of data loss....
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Listing the full OS installers available from Apple’s Software Update feed on...
One of the changes in macOS Big Sur is that the softwareupdate command has been updated with new functionality. .gist table { margin-bottom: 0; } usage: softwareupdate <cmd> [<args> …] **...
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Selectively removing the drop shadow from screenshots on macOS Big Sur
One of my personal preferences with macOS is removing the drop shadow from screenshots. On macOS Catalina and earlier, I was able to to turn off drop shadows on screenshots by running the following...
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Using Twocanoes’ Signing Manager to sign AutoPkg-built installer packages
As part of many application or package building workflows, there is a requirement to sign the end result to guarantee that the app or package has not been tampered with. With the advent of Apple’s...
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Jamf Pro server installer for macOS being retired
As part of the release notes for Jamf Pro 10.28, there is this note in the Deprecations and Removals section: Support ending for the Jamf Pro Server Installer for macOS — Support for using the Jamf Pro...
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Connecting to AWS EC2 instances via Session Manager
When folks have needed command line access to instances running in Amazon Web Service’s EC2 service, SSH has been the usual method used. However, in addition to using SSH to connect to EC2 instances in...
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Using Markdown comments to add search keywords to Self Service descriptions
For those using Jamf Pro’s Self Service, one of the handier features can be the Search function built into the app. This search is able to examine Self Service policies and use the information in the...
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Using the Jamf Pro API to mass-delete obsolete packages and scripts
If you’re using AutoPkg and tools like jamf-upload or JSSImporter to automate the uploading of packages and scripts to your Jamf Pro server, it may be necessary to periodically delete a large number...
View ArticleWorkaround for timeouts when deleting installer packages from Jamf Pro
I use AutoPkg and JSSImporter to keep my Jamf Pro server updated with the latest installers for the software used by my shop. However, this means that I usually have a large number of no-longer-needed...
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Using VLC to convert a video to play at twice normal speed
As part of preparing for an upcoming talk, I’m working on a presentation which includes a video. As part of adding the video to my Keynote slides I thought that increasing the playback speed would help...
View ArticleUsing Signing Manager with autopkg-conductor
I’ve recently been working with Twocanoes Software’s Signing Manager in combination with my autopkg-conductor tool for managing AutoPkg runs. I’m happy to report it’s possible, but you may need to make...
View ArticleAutoPkg repo and logfile cleanup scripts for use with autopkg-conductor
As part of running autopkg-conductor over a long period of time, you may see a large percentage of disk space used on the Mac where you’re running AutoPkg and autopkg-conductor. This is because AutoPkg...
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Blocking account logins to the ?failover login page on Jamf Pro
As part of Jamf Pro’s single-sign on (SSO) logins, there’s an option to bypass the SSO login using the following URL: https://your.jamf.pro.server.here:8443/?failover This URL is designed to let you...
View ArticleUsing curl for telnet testing on macOS High Sierra and later
As part of introducing macOS High Sierra, Apple removed the telnet tool from macOS. This was part of Apple’s overall effort to improve security, as telnet does not use encryption and its traffic can be...
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Using the Jamf Pro API to send device lock commands via MDM to multiple Macs
Most Mac admins have had this conversation at one point or another over the course of their careers: “$Very Important Person left their Mac behind in a cab! What do we do?” “OK, no worries. We can send...
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