Enabling automatic macOS software updates for OS X Yosemite through macOS Mojave

A while back, I wrote a post on how to enable automatic OS X updates on OS X Yosemite. The methods used to enable automatic macOS updates changed as of macOS Mojave, so let’s take a look at the changes. For more details, please see below the jump.

Backing up macOS management policies from Jamf Pro

When working with computer management policies on Jamf Pro, especially more complex policies, I prefer to download then and back them up to GitHub or a similar internal source control tool. The reasons I do this are the following:

1. I have an off-server backup for the policies
2. I can track changes to the groups
3. If needed, I can make a change to a policy and upload via the API instead of having to edit in the web console.

Up until recently, I didn’t have a good process for handling this but after some work, I was able to build a script which does the following:

1. If any policies were previously downloaded, back up existing downloaded policies into a .zip file
2. Download the policy information as XML
3. Properly format the downloaded XML
4. Identify the display name of the policy.
5. Identify the category of the policy.
6. Save the downloaded XML as Policy Name Here.xml to a specified download directory, based on the category that the policy is in.

The reason the script archives previously downloaded policies are the following:

1. In case something goes wrong with the download, I still have the previously archived copy.
2. The script can clear out the existing download directory and have only the latest version of the policy stored inside.

For more details, please see below the jump.

Backing up extension attributes from Jamf Pro

While working with extension attributes on Jamf Pro, I prefer to download then and back them up to GitHub or a similar internal source control tool. The reasons I do this are the following:

1. I have an off-server backup for the extension attributes
2. I can track changes to the extension attributes

To help me manage this, I have two scripts which do the following:

1. Use the Jamf Pro API to identify the Jamf Pro ID numbers of the extension attributes.
2. Download each extension attribute as an XML file using its Jamf Pro ID number.
3. Format the downloaded XML.
4. Identify the display name of the extension attribute.
5. Identify if it was a String, Integer or Date extension attribute.
6. If it’s a macOS or Windows extension attribute and it has a script, extract the script.
7. Save the downloaded XML or script as Extension Attribute Name Here to a specified download directory, based on whether it was a String, Integer or Date extension attribute.

For more details, please see below the jump.

Packaging SAP GUI for macOS with Java 11 support

A while back, I wrote a post on building a SAP GUI installer for macOS, where SAP GUI needed to have Oracle’s Java 8 JDK as a pre-requisite. Since then Oracle has made an announcement that the use of Oracle’s Java 11 JDK is no longer free if you’re using it for production work.

One of the consequences of that decision by Oracle is that SAP GUI 7.50 rev 5 is the first version of SAP GUI to support Java 11. However, the SAP GUI developers are now recommending the use of OpenJDK 11 in place of Oracle’s Java JDK 11. More specifically, the SAP GUI folks are recommending the use of SAP’s own SapMachine Java JDK 11 release.

Meanwhile, a Java library named JavaFX used by SAP GUI is no longer being bundled as part of Java 11. Instead, JavaFX has been split off into its own open source project called OpenJFX and is now a separate install.

What do SapMachine JDK 11 and JavaFX have in common? Among other things, neither have a native installer for macOS. Instead, each is distributed via compressed files.

Installation is performed by uncompressing into the following directory on macOS:

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines

That said, SAP GUI also still works with Oracle’s Java JDK 8 as of the release of SAP GUI 7.50 rev 5. JavaFX is bundled with Java JDK 8, so installing Oracle’s Java JDK 8 handles both the Java and JavaFX requirements.

With all the changes, how should SAP GUI now be packaged for installation? Without question, the main challenge for deployment here is going to be the Java component. In my testing, which was limited to “Launch SAP GUI and see if it runs”, I found SAP GUI 7.50 rev 5 is able to run on the following Java releases:

• Oracle Java JDK 8 Update 191
• Oracle Java JDK 11.0.1
• OpenJDK 11.0.1
• SapMachine JDK 11.0.1.13

If using any Java 11 release, OpenJFX will need to be installed for SAP GUI to successfully run.

With this in mind, it’s possible to build a package that does the following:

1. Detects if Java is installed
2. Detects if JavaFX is installed
3. If Java is not installed, install the latest release of SapMachine JDK.
4. If JavaFX is not installed, install the latest release of OpenJFX.
5. Verifies that both Java and JavaFX are installed.
6. If both Java and JavaFX are installed, install SAP GUI

For more details, please see below the jump.

Backing up macOS scripts from Jamf Pro

When working with scripts for managing Macs on Jamf Pro, I prefer to download then and back them up to GitHub or a similar internal source control tool. The reason I do this is the following:

1. I have an off-server backup for the scripts
2. I can track changes to the scripts

While I’ve usually had copies of the scripts stored elsewhere, sometimes I would make changes to the scripts on Jamf Pro and then not update the offline copy of the scripts with my changes. Being able to download them from my Jamf Pro server would mean that I could always have a copy of the latest version of the script in production.

To help me with this, I’ve written a script to do the following:

1. Use the Jamf Pro API to identify the Jamf Pro ID numbers of the scripts.
2. Download each script using its Jamf Pro ID number as raw XML.
3. Format the downloaded XML
4. Identify the display name of the script
5. Extract the script from the downloaded XML
6. Save the script as Display Name Goes Here to a specified download directory.

For more details, please see below the jump.

Downloading macOS High Sierra from the Mac App Store

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

https://support.apple.com/HT208969

 

 

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

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741?ls=1&mt=12

That link should open the MAS and take you to the macOS High Sierra download page.

 

In the event that you’re blocked from downloading macOS High Sierra, 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/