Deploying Macs from the Recovery Partition with MDS

Speakers: Kitzy & Timothy Perfitt

Level: Intermediate, Lecture

Excerpt: Quickly set up and provision Macs with MDS. Within minutes of a Mac pulled out of the box, it will be set up, configured, and ready to deploy. MDS works with all Macs, including new Macs with Secure Boot and System Integrity Protection. MDS sets up all the resources for booting from the recovery partition or an external drive, wiping and installing macOS, and installing required packages. Come to this session and learn how to admins are using MDS, how MDS works, and get your questions answered.

Description: This session will cover how MDS works, how people are using it, how to set up workflows, and more.

  • Learn how office managers at Fastly use MDS to quickly setup and deploy Macs in their reports offices.
  • How MDS makes sure firmware updates work.
  • How MDS works with T2 Macs.
  • How to use image and deploy with MDS in secure and closed environments
  • Deploy packages, scripts, and profiles with MDS
  • Migrate from DeployStudio workflows to MDS-based workflows
  • Using MDS with DEP, UAMDM, and kernel extensions
  • Automating workflows with an Arduino Automaton
  • Get Involved! MDS is open source and free.
  • Leveraging caching services with MDS


    About the speakers

    Timothy Perfitt (Twitter: @tperfitt) – Founder – Twocanoes Software

    Timothy Perfitt is founder and CEO of Twocanoes Software. He started the company in 2012 in Naperville, IL in an effort to build best of breed Mac and iOS software and hardware. Taking advantage of Apple’s iBeacon and the excitement around close-proximity sensors, Twocanoes has created a short-range Bluetooth device that alerts customer-aware systems of a nearby mobile device called Bleu.
    Prior to starting Twocanoes, Timothy worked for Apple for over 10 years and developed the first ever certification training for OS X and OS X server, which led him to work with the Apple engineering team that focused on Higher Education and Fortune 500 large scale environments.
    Timothy graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Electrical Engineering and in 2006, received his Masters Degree in Computer Science with a thesis on large scale, distributed peer-to-peer microblogging.
    Timothy lives in Naperville, IL, with his wife and 10 year old son. He is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, serving in the Solomon Islands from 1991 to 1993 and is fluent Pijin, the common language of the Solomon Islands.


    Kitzy (Twitter: @heykitzy) – – Fastly

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