Apple® has come a long way from the legendary Los Altos, CA garage. A recent study has found that 91% of enterprises surveyed have adopted macOS® into day to day use. The result makes sense given the usability and aesthetic that users value in Mac® products. For IT admins, however, the uptick in Mac usage has come with a challenge. In an industry dominated by Windows®-centric system management tools, what's the best way to manage macOS?
What Does macOS Management Look Like?
Does anybody know how to install MacOS on a Jumper EZBook? Would it be possible? Here is a patched kernel for Mac OS 10.9 to run the system on Intel Atom Cherry Trail. ⚠ Fairly Demanding: You'll need a recent Mac. System requirements: OS X 10.9.5, 2.2 Ghz Intel Core i3, 4 GB RAM, 10 GB HD space, NVIDIA Geforce 330M, ATI Radeon HD 3870, or Intel HD 3000 with 256 MB of Video Memory. Role-Playing: Medium: No: Wasteland 2: Director's Cut: Wasteland 2: Director's Cut. Jump Desktop works very fast and is reasonably priced IMO. However I always use Screen Sharing to connect to my MacMini iTunes Server in my home network (1680x1050 resolution) and compared to Jump Desktop the MacOS ScreenSharing.app shows the shared macMini screen on my MBP (using 1900x1200 resolution) much crisper and sharper using HiDPI.
It is also critical to define macOS management. Historically, managing a Mac meant ensuring the systems was updated with the latest patches, secure, and running efficiently. However, with so many end users leveraging Macs, IT admins can't just manage the device fleet without managing the user's access to those machines. So, today, macOS management means user and device management.
It's easy to wonder why managing macOS would be an issue. After all, if studies showing how popular the OS has become in the past few years are true, Mac management doesn't seem like it should be any trouble for IT admins. But, by taking a look at the IT industry over the same period of time, the answer becomes clearer.
Mac Management Through the Years
System management in general has traditionally fallen to either Microsoft® Active Directory® or SCCM (previously known as SMS). There were other third party system management solutions available, but for most organizations, these Windows focused solutions were acceptable.
As macOS systems started to enter into the enterprise, the existing Windows focused solutions struggled. The result was that IT organization started to leverage identity bridges, which extended an AD identity to a Mac system as well as the concept of group policy objects (GPOs) to manage the system itself. Unfortunately, the identity bridge was not a Mac management silver bullet, however, and resulted in a bit of heavy lifting on the part of the sysadmin to implement.
Managing macOS in the Future
As the IT world has shifted to the cloud, new solutions have emerged in the macOS management space. Some Mac specific system management tools have hit the market to help IT admins manage macOS. These solutions are almost strictly limited to system management, however. An ideal solution should be able to not only manage the system itself, but also control user identities on an enterprise scale. This scope of managing macOS includes federating the user's access to on-prem and web applications via single sign-on (SSO), and permitting network access to both local and WiFi connections. As well, IT admins can manage the entire fleet of Macs for updates, security, and maintenance issues.
Manage macOS with JumpCloud®
A next generation directory service is doing just that, and not just for macOS. JumpCloud® Directory-as-a-Service® is a third party, cloud-based solution that authorizes access regardless of platform (macOS, Windows, or Linux®). With Directory-as-a-Service, IT admins can permit user access to almost any resource necessary, regardless of location, protocol, or provider. For macOS specific applications, JumpCloud features a macOS app to facilitate management and user password resets. The endpoint-centric directory solution can also be used to manage systems on a fleetwide basis, using cross-platform GPO-like capabilities to federate prescribed commands, called Policies, across entire user bases.
If your organization needs to manage macOS and more, consider trying JumpCloud. Signing up is completely free and includes ten users forever to get you started. You can always schedule a demo to see the product in the hands of an expert, or contact our team with questions.
Step 1 - Download U-Boot only image and an Helios64 image build¶
To emulate the internal eMMC as USB Mass Storage, special u-boot image is needed.Download the microSD card image from here.
You will also need to download an OS image to write to the internal eMMC.
Go to Download and chose one of the latest build.
Important
- OMV (OpenMediaVault) is only supported on Debian OS.
- Armbian 20.08.8 and earlier version has bug that prevent system to boot from eMMC!
Step 2 - Writing U-Boot image to a microSD Card¶
You will need to use an image writing tool to write helios64_sdcard_u-boot-only.img.xz to microSD Card.
Under Windows, Mac OS or Linux (via Graphic Interface)¶
Etcher is a graphical SD card writing tool that works on Mac OS, Linux and Windows, this is the easiest method for most users. Etcher also supports writing images directly from XZ files, without any prerequired decompression. To write your image with Etcher:
- Download Etcher and install it on your computer.
- Insert the microSD Card inside your SD card reader (microSD to SD adapter might be needed).
- Open Etcher and select the helios64_sdcard_u-boot-only.img.xz image file from your local storage.
- Select the microSD Card you wish to write your image to.
- Review your selections and click 'Flash!' to begin writing data to the microSD Card.
Under Linux (using dd via Terminal)¶
Armbian images are using XZ compression format, therefore we need xz-utils or xz tools to decompress the image first.
for Debian-based distribution (Debian/Ubuntu) you can install the utility using following command:
in RedHat-based distribution (RHEL / CentOS / Fedora Linux) users can use this command:
after installing the compression tool, you can now decompress the images:
finally we can write the images to sdcard using dd:
Note
/dev/sdX is where the microSD is mapped in your Linux machine, change the 'X' to your corresponding mapped device. If you set /dev/sdX to a wrong device then you might risk erasing a hard drive or different device than the designated microSD.
Step 3 - Wire Helios64¶
Warning
Always proceed with caution when manipulating 110/220V appliance.
Important
If your system has the UPS battery accessory installed, then check your board is really powered off before going any further. Check Front Panel System ON LED or Board System ON LED is off. If not off, then press Power-On Button for ~4 seconds until System ON LED goes off.
Insert the prepared microSD Card.
Connect your computer to the serial port with the Type-C to Type-A USB cable.
Connect Helios64 to your home network with the Ethernet cable.
Choose LAN2 port if you have 2.5Gb network.Plug-in the DC power connector. Don't power-up the Power Adapter yet.
Jumper Survivor Mac Os Download
If you are using Helios64 without an enclosure: Crazy justice mac os.
Step 4 - Power-Up Helios64¶
Now that everything is ready you can plug-in the AC adapter and push the Power-On Button.
If you are using Helios64 without an enclosure:
Step 5 - Writing an OS image to Internal eMMC¶
After you have powered-up Helios64, your computer should have detected a new storage device called Linux UMS disk 0.
Now write Helios64 OS image that you have downloaded in Step 1 to the above detected storage device.
Using Etcher¶
- Open Etcher and select the Helios64 image file from your local storage.
- Select 'Linux UMS disk 0' drive.
- Review your selections and click 'Flash!' to begin writing data to the microSD Card.
Using dd via Terminal¶
Decompress the image:
finally we can write the image to eMMC using dd:
Replace the filename by the image file name you downloaded.
Note
Jumper Survivor Mac Os X
/dev/sdX is where the 'Linux UMS_disk_0' is mapped in your Linux machine, change the 'X' to your corresponding mapped device. If you set /dev/sdX to a wrong device then you might risk erasing a hard drive or different device than the designated Helios64 internal eMMC.
Step 6 - Power-Down Helios64¶
Power down Helios64 by long pressing (~4 seconds) the Power Button and then remove the microSD card.
Now the setup is ready for its first start, go to First Start page for further instruction.