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Precache Now Pulls Models From Jamf Pro
Added 3 new flags into precache tonight: –jamfserver, –jamfuser, and –jamfpassword. These are used to provide a Jamf Pro server (or cloud instance), the username to an account that can list the mobile devices on that server, and a password to that account respectively. Basically, when you provide these, the script will pull a unique set of models and then precache updates for them. It’s similar to grabbing a list of devices: curl -s -u myuser:mypassword https://myserver.jamfcloud.com/JSSResource/mobiledevices And then piping the output of a device list to: perl -lne 'BEGIN{undef $/} while (/<model_identifier>(.*?)<\/model_identifier>/sg){print $1}' And then running that array as an input to precache.py. Hope this helps make the script…
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log, logs, and logger
This is the first page of a 5 page piece I just finished writing for MacTech. After the last episode of the MacAdmins podcast though, I wanted to go ahead and get some of the information out there. For a much more detailed analysis, check out MacTech! Apple has a number of different logging APIs. For the past few releases, Apple has tried to capture everything possible in logs, creating what many administrators and developers might consider to be a lot of chatter. As such, an entirely new interface needed to be developed to categorize and filter messages sent into system logs. Writing Logs The logger command is still used…
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My Latest Huffington Post Article On Compassion
OK, I don’t talk politics, about personal stuff, etc on this site usually. And I’m not gonna’ start now. But with Give To The Max Day in Minnesota today, I did write an article on the meaning of Compassion on Huffington Post. It can be found at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-edge/what-does-compassion-mean_b_12999974.html if you’re interested in such things; if not, hope you have a wonderful day!
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Reset an Unresponsive Server 5.2 on macOS Sierra
The Server 5 app that installs on Sierra is great. But sometimes a change doesn’t get committed properly or has a mismatch with a certificate, and the server doesn’t respond properly… I know, you’ve been told that host name changes and IP changes are all kinds of OK at this point; “look, Charles, there’s a button!” Well, go ahead, click it. Don’t mind me, you might just be alright. But then again, you might not if you’re running Open Directory, Profile Manager, or a few other services… When it works it’s a thing of beauty. But when it doesn’t, you might be restoring some stuff from backup. But just before you…
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Script To Sign A Previously Signed .ipa With Your Provisioning Profile
Organizations frequently have another party write iOS apps for them. When doing so, the organization typically wants to sign the .ipa (how iOS apps are deployed) prior to deploying the app to users. To do so, you would sign the .ipa with your provisioning profile. To make doing so easier, here’s ipasign, a python script that does most of the work for ya’: https://github.com/krypted/ipasign/
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Check Out Our MacVoices Episode On The September 7th Apple Event
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Automator Actions for the Caspers
Looks like Sal et al posted a suite of Automator Actions to link the Casper Suite to Apple Configurator at https://configautomation.com/jamf-actions.html. In my limited tests so far they work pretty darn well! Some pretty cool things here, like having the JSS rename a mobile device when managed through Apple Configurator, having Apple Configurator instruct the JSS to remove a device from a group, clear passcodes, update inventory, and other common tasks involved in workflows when leveraging Apple Configurator for en masse device management. Good stuff!
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Control Philips Hue From Wink
I don’t like hunting through multiple apps to turn off a light in my house. Therefore, I’ve been trying to get everything centralized in the Wink app. When it comes to managing Philips Hue lights, the Wink can turn them on and off, as well as change the percentage that a bulb is lit, acting as a dimmer. Philips Hue lights run through a bridge, known as the Hue Bridge. This device bridges the Wi-fi network and allows the Philips Hue app to control your lights. Once your Hue lights are configured, open the Wink app and tap on Add a Product. At the Add a Product screen, tap on Lights.…
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Control A Wink From Alexa
One of my favorite options in the latest round of home automationry is the ability to voice control all the things. The Wink has a pretty substantial list of supported home automation devices. The Alexa can control the Wink. Therefore, the Alexa can do all the things, even though integrations with Alexa were not built for most of those devices by Amazon. The beauty here lies in the ubiquity of APIs these days. Alexa has a recipe-style option called a Skill (further humanizing her). Basically, you add the Wink skill, then scan for devices that are connected through the Wink, then viola, tell Alexa to do something to them. To get…