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XProtect updated – now blocking Java browser plug-in versions prior to June...
Apple put out two advisories on August 29th about Java: Java updates available for OS X on August 28, 2013 OS X: Java Web plug-in blocked 28 August 2013 The latter advisory is especially noteworthy to...
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Automatically fixing Casper Mac MDM enrollment
While I was working on a new laptop this afternoon, I noticed that the Profiles icon was missing from System Preferences. This system was managed by our Casper server and we’re using both...
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Java 7 Update 40 runs natively in VMware Fusion OS X VMs
An issue that I’ve been dealing with for a while has been that Oracle’s Java 7 did not run natively in VMware Fusion. VMware had created a patch for OS X VMs, but it was only designed to be run in OS X...
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VMware Fusion 6.0 VMs and FileVault 2
As part of my FileVault 2 testing, I do a lot of work with OS X VMs running in VMware Fusion. With 10.8.5′s release yesterday, I built a new OS X VM using this process. Once it was built, I tried...
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Slides from the FileVault 2 Session at MacSysAdmin 2013
For those who wanted a copy of my FileVault 2 session slides from MacSysAdmin 2013, here are links to the slides in PDF and Keynote format. PDF document link: http://tinyurl.com/MacSysAd2013PDF Keynote...
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Building a Grand Unified Xcode 5.0 installer for Mountain Lion
Apple has released Xcode 5.0 through the Mac App Store for all Macs running 10.8.4 and higher. The command line tools can be installed separately through the Xcode preferences, in the Downloads...
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Session videos and slides now available from MacSysAdmin 2013
The documentation from MacSysAdmin 2013 is now available, with the session slides and videos being accessible from the link below: http://documentation.macsysadmin.se The video of my session is...
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Uninstalling Casper on Red Hat Enterprise Linux
I recently had to roll my Casper test server back, as I had been testing Casper 9.x but needed to verify something worked in Casper 8.x. Since I hadn’t found a good knowledge base article on JAMF...
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Keychain Minder on Mavericks
For those folks using Keychain Minder to help your users update their keychain passwords, it continues to work as of 10.9.0. To show it in operation, I’ve made a short video.
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FileVault 2 status scripts updated for Mavericks
I’ve updated the FileVault 2 status check scripts so that they’re now able to correctly handle Macs running Mavericks. The scripts should now report accurately on the FileVault 2 status of Macs running...
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Re-packaging installer packages with Packages
One of the challenges that can crop up with deploying software packages can be repackaging packages and metapackages, especially packages that don’t have all of the installer data contained inside...
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Slides from the Virtualization and Testing Session at MacTech Conference 2013
For those who wanted a copy of my virtualization talk at MacTech Conference 2013, here are links to the slides in PDF and Keynote format. PDF – http://tinyurl.com/mt2013vmPDF Keynote –...
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Using AutoPkg to download and create installers for Firefox
As part of preparing my Casper server for its eventual upgrade to Casper 9.x, I’m transitioning from using bundle-style packages to using flat packages wherever possible. As part of that effort, I...
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FileVault 2 on Mavericks is now FIPS 140-2 Compliant
Apple officially announced on Monday, November 11th that the FIPS 140-2 validations for the cryptographic modules used by iOS 7 and OS X 10.9.x have now been completed. This is significant news for...
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Bypassing the Mavericks managed preferences login check
With the release of 10.9, a number of Mac admins began seeing an Updating Managed Settings message appear at the login window. When contacted, Apple said that this was new behavior and it was added for...
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“Understand FileVault 2 and Manage Disk Encryption with the Casper Suite”...
JAMF Software has posted the session video for my FileVault 2 session from JAMF Nation User Conference 2013. For those interested, the JNUC session videos are available on YouTube. For convenience....
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Xcode Command Line Tools included with Xcode 5.0.x on Mavericks
Something I’ve always tried to include with Xcode installations are the Xcode command line tools. Starting in Xcode 4.3, Apple stopped bundling these tools by default and instead made them an optional...
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Expanding available disk space on JAMF’s NetSUS VM appliance
Thanks to Allister, I ran across this NetSUS-related feature request at JAMF Nation. While the feature request makes sense in the context of the requester’s shop, it is possible to resize the NetSUS...
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Building a Grand Unified Xcode 5.0.2 installer for Mavericks and Mountain Lion
Apple has released Xcode 5.0.2 through the Mac App Store for all Macs running 10.8.4 and higher. While the command line tools for Mavericks are now included with Xcode, the command line tools for...
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Fixing permissions after changing directory services
In my travels, an issue I’ve occasionally dealt with has been moving Macs between directory services. In some cases, this meant between AD domains. In others, moving a Mac from an AD domain to an...
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