Creating a NexThink uninstaller for deployment via Jamf Pro

As a follow-up to my previous post on building an installer for NexThink Collector which could be deployed via Jamf Pro, I also needed to build an uninstaller for this software. Fortunately, NexThink ships an uninstaller script on the same disk image that it uses to ship its installer.

NexThink’s install documentation for the macOS version of the Collector software assumes that a human is doing the following to run the uninstall process:

A. Mounting the disk image
B. Opening the Terminal application
C. Using the uninstaller script to run the uninstallation process.

In my case, I decided to do the following to deploy the uninstaller via Jamf Pro:

1. Wrap the disk image inside a separate installer package.
2. Use a postinstall script to perform the following actions:

A. Identify the location of the disk image stored inside the installer package.
B. Mount the disk image
C. Use the uninstall script to uninstall the NexThink Collector software.
D. Unmount the disk image.

For more details, please see below the jump.

Creating a NexThink installer for deployment via Jamf Pro

A while back, I had to build an installer for NexThink Collector which could be deployed via Jamf Pro. NexThink can be interesting to deploy because the installation process:

1. Involves an application named csi.app, which has a command line tool.
2. The referenced csi app’s command line tool configures and runs an installer package.
3. The command line tool also needs to reference a license file, which NexThink refers to as a CustomerKey file.

The CustomerKey file should look similar to what’s shown below:

—–BEGIN CUSTOMER KEY—–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—–END CUSTOMER KEY—–

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Company-Name-customer-key.txt

hosted with ❤ by GitHub

All the needed components with the exception of the CustomerKey file, which is different for each customer, ship on a disk image.

NexThink’s install documentation for the macOS version of the Collector software assumes that a human is doing one of the following:

Graphical installation: Mounting the disk image, double-clicking on the installer package and following the prompts, entering the correct configuration information were needed.

 

Command line installation: Mounting the disk image, opening the Terminal application and using the csi app’s command line tool to configure the installer package and run the installation process.

 

 

For the Enterprise Deployment section of the application, the NexThink documentation says they support it but doesn’t provide information on how to do it.

In my case, I decided to do the following to deploy it via Jamf Pro:

1. Wrap the disk image and CustomerKey file inside a separate installer package.
2. Use a postinstall script to perform the following actions:

A. Identify the location of the disk image stored inside the installer package.
B. Mount the disk image
C. Identify the location of the csi.app on the mounted disk image.
D. Identify the location of the CustomerKey file stored inside the installer package.
E. Use the csi app’s command line tool to configure and run the NexThink-provided installer package on the mounted disk image, to install the NexThink Collector software.
F. Unmount the disk image.

For more details, please see below the jump.

Session videos from Jamf Nation User Conference 2022 now available

Jamf has posted the session videos for Jamf Nation User Conference 2022, including the video for my Running Jamf Pro at Scale, from SAP with ❤️ session.

For those interested, all of the the JNUC 2022 session videos are available on YouTube. For convenience, I’ve linked my session here.

autopkg-conductor updated to support reporting to Slack and Microsoft Teams

When the autopkg-conductor tool was first written, one of its primary functions was to send the output of JSSImporter to a Slack channel. With JSSImporter being deprecated in favor of JamfUploader, I’ve decided to do the following:

1. Drop support for JSSImporter.
2. Add additional reporting options for JamfUploader.

As of the current version to the tool, autopkg-conductor can send output from JamfUploader to the following:

• Slack
• Microsoft Teams

For more details, please see below the jump.

Downloading macOS IPSW files for use with Mac virtual machines on Apple Silicon Macs

A change between creating Mac virtual machines on Intel Macs and creating them on Apple Silicon Macs is that virtualization on Apple Silicon Macs often assumes that the virtual machine is built using a macOS restore image . These restore images are files with an .ipsw file extension and are commonly referred to as IPSW files.

Apple publishes the download links for macOS restore images via the following URL:

https://mesu.apple.com/assets/macos/com_apple_macOSIPSW/com_apple_macOSIPSW.xml

If you look at the XML file from the link above, it provides download links for the current version of macOS for the various Mac models which support running that version of macOS.

Among the various models listed is the model identifier for Mac virtual machines (VirtualMac2,1) created using Apple’s Virtualization framework. This means that we should be able to identify and download the appropriate IPSW file for use when building Mac virtual machines.

Using this information, I’ve written a script to download the appropriate IPSW file for building macOS virtual machines by checking the file linked above for the download URL associated with the VirtualMac2,1 Mac model. For more details, please see below the jump.

Apple Device Management Second Edition book coming soon

Three years back, both Charles Edge and I wrote a book together:

Just in time to bring a little Holiday cheer, the @apple Device Management book I wrote with @rtrouton is now shipping from @Apress https://t.co/P4SjJaU1BZ

Thanks to all of the people that lent a helping hand. This one required a bit more than any other I’ve worked on!

— Charles Edge (@cedge318) December 23, 2019

We decided to put the band back together for a Second Edition, which I’m pleased to say is far enough along in the publishing process that it’s been assigned an ISBN number and a listing on Amazon.

Finished the technical edits with @rtrouton on “Apple Device Management: A Unified Theory of Managing Macs, iPads, iPhones, and AppleTVs, Second Edition” yesterday and it’s not available for pre-order but does have an isbn and is closer to shipping! https://t.co/Dm6AZKljaV

— Charles Edge (@cedge318) November 12, 2022

While it’s not yet available for pre-order, hopefully you’ll be able to add a pre-order for it to your Christmas shopping list!

Charles and I were also on the Mac Admins Podcast to discuss the new book so if you’re interested in learning more, please see the link below:

https://podcast.macadmins.org/2022/09/27/episode-284-rich-trouton-on-apple-device-management-2nd-edition/

Downloading macOS Monterey from the App Store

Now that macOS Ventura has been released, it’s become more difficult to access the macOS Monterey installer for those who still need it. Fortunately, macOS Monterey has not been removed from the App Store and it is still available for download. Apple has a KBase article that shows how to access the macOS Monterey page in the App Store, available via the link below:

https://support.apple.com/HT211683

To access the macOS Monterey page directly, please click on the link below:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-monterey/id1576738294?mt=12

That link should open the App Store and take you to the macOS Monterey download page.

 

In the event that you’re blocked from downloading macOS Monterey, you should be able to download it in a virtual machine. I have a post on how to do this, available via the link below:

https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2017/02/21/downloading-older-os-installers-on-incompatible-hardware-using-vms/

Adding hidden Login Items on macOS Ventura

One of the changes made between macOS Monterey’s System Preferences and macOS Ventura’s System Settings is that the Hide checkbox in System Preferences’ Login Items has disappeared from System Settings’ Login Items.

Login Items in System Preferences

Login Items in System Settings

Fortunately for those who want to continue being able to launch applications on login and automatically hide them, it’s still possible to do so on macOS Ventura from the command line using osascript.

To do this, run a command similar to the one shown below using the logged-in user’s privileges:

/usr/bin/osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to make login item at end with properties {path:"/path/to/itemname", hidden:true}'

For example, if you want Safari to launch at login with its windows automatically hidden, run the command below using the logged-in user’s privileges:

/usr/bin/osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to make login item at end with properties {path:"/Applications/Safari.app", hidden:true}'

Safari will appear in the Login Items list without any sign that it’s launching as hidden, but the application behavior on login will be just like it would be on earlier versions of macOS where the Hide checkbox was checked.

Opening macOS Ventura’s System Settings to desired locations via the command line

With the release of macOS Ventura, the System Preferences application has been replaced with the System Settings application.

macOS Monterey System Preferences:

macOS Ventura System Settings:

Along with this change, a number of previously-known commands for opening individual System Preferences preference panes from the command line no longer work with System Settings.

However, it looks like the underlying command line functionality wasn’t changed by Apple. You just need to know what the new options are to enter. For more details, please see below the jump.

Creating AWS S3 buckets for webpage redirection

I recently had an issue where I needed to solve a particular problem:

1. I had a DNS domain name

dns.name.here

2. I needed to point it to a HTTPS URL hosted on another domain:

https://other.dns.name.here/path/to/site/goes/here

3. The DNS server for dns.name.here does not support HTTP Redirect records.

To address this, I decided to use S3 buckets hosted on Amazon Web Services to handle the redirection to the HTTPS URL. In this scenario, what I’m doing is pointing the relevant dns.name.here domain name at the S3 bucket’s AWS domain name. The S3 bucket is performing a HTTP 301 redirect, which sends the requesting web browser the URL of the site I want to connect to. For those interested, Amazon’s documentation of how to use an S3 bucket for URL redirection is linked below:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/how-to-page-redirect.html

After doing it the first time manually, I decided to see if anyone had scripted this task. It turns out the answer is “no”, at least for what I wanted to do, so I’ve written a script which handles this task. For more details, please see below the jump.