Speakers: Timothy Schutt
Level: Intermediate, Lecture
Excerpt: Distributed IT support organizations in a University environment can present unique challenges. Follow along on a journey with Deploy Studio, MicroMDM, Munki, select open source tools and a bit of home-spun Python to provide each of the colleges and organizations at Syracuse University their own “Munki Barrel” for macOS fleet management.
Description: Universities face unique challenges when designing a central macOS management system. At Syracuse University, there are 12 separate colleges and 32 distinct organizational units, many with their own dedicated IT support groups.
Our challenge was to design a unified framework where each IT support group would be provisioned with their own dedicated management node: A “Munki Barrel.” Additionally, paths needed to be developed to ensure that incoming machines could be enrolled, bootstrapped, and routed to the correct Barrel.
Deploy Studio workflows tailored to each IT Support realm worked exceptionally well. However, with upcoming changes to macOS, the process was re-engineered to begin with DEP/MDM enrollment, make a brief stop at a munki “routing” barrel, and finally deliver the computer to the parent organization’s management realm.
About the speaker
Timothy Schutt (Twitter: @binkleybloom) – Computer Consultant & Mac Environments Tech Team lead. – Syracuse University
Almost from birth, Tim had an affinity for keyboards. But in the different America of Tim’s youth, there was only the kind with 88 black and white keys. So he dutifully practiced his Chopin and planned for a career teaching 8th graders music they would never appreciate. Then one day he discovered a keyboard where shortcuts paid off instead of getting him laughed off the stageand he said goodbye to powdered wigs and hello to the Macintosh Plus.
Today, Tim hangs his hat at Syracuse University where he leads the Mac Enterprise Tech Team. Most days he finds himself stealing snippets of code off StackExchange, arguing with installation packages, and posting stupid jokes on Twitter.
And every once in a while he sneaks back to that original keyboard.