If managing minor updates for Macs can be tricky, then managing major macOS upgrades can be a mountain to climb. Addigy's ability to deploy software extends beyond simple .pkgs to let you deploy full macOS installers to upgrade your machines.
Upgrading Macs with Policy MDM/DDM Updates
Apple provides MDM vendors the ability to manage updates via MDM, and more recently, DDM (Declarative Device Management). Both options require MDM to be installed and approved on devices.
More information on our System Updates via MDM/DDM can be seen here: System Updates via MDM and DDM
Upgrading Macs with Public Software
The simplest way to upgrade a Mac is by utilizing the Public Software items provided in the Catalog. Addigy provides up-to-date installers for the past three major versions of macOS. The most recent macOS upgrade software is Install macOS Ventura (13.3.1.1).
Here's how the software will perform the upgrade when deployed to a machine:
- The Condition script makes sure the device is running a version of OS X/macOS that can upgrade.
- The lan-cache utility downloads the necessary Install macOS .app file in a compressed format.
- If no one is logged in, then the install begins and the device automatically restarts when the installation finishes.
- If a user is logged in, they are asked if would like to upgrade. If they accept, the device restarts when the install completes. If they decline, the installation is canceled.
It's important to plan for upgrading your machines as applying major upgrades can have a significant impact on their performance. When testing major upgrades, we recommend deploying the software from the GoLive -> Software -> Public Software tab for the quickest testing cycles.
More information on upgrades via the Public Software items can be found here: Install macOS Public Software Overview
Upgrading Macs with Custom Software
If the Public Software options to upgrade machines do not meet your needs, then you can always upload your own macOS installer to upgrade the way that you would like.
First, compress the macOS installer .app into a .tar.gz or zip file. For simplicity, this example will use the .tar.gz format.
cd "/Applications"
tar -czvf ~/Desktop/macOS_Monterey.tar.gz "Install macOS Monterey.app"
Then, upload the compressed file, "macOS_Monterey.tar.gz" in this case, into a new Custom Software in Addigy. For some Custom Software tips, see our article Creating Custom Software.
Last, you'll need to add the Installation Script:
# Uncompress the compressed installer. tar -zxvf macOS_Monterey.tar.gz -C /Applications/ # Make sure the installer has the appropriate file permissions. chmod -R 755 "/Applications/Install macOS Monterey.app" # This is the command the installs the new version. "/Applications/Install macOS Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall" --applicationpath "/Applications/Install macOS Monterey.app" --agreetolicense --nointeraction
That's it! Make sure you give your software a hard test before deploying it to production machines. Then, you're off to the races.
There are many ways to refine and improve on a basic Custom Software like this. For instance, you may need to add a command at the beginning of your installation script to download the file from your own file servers. Also, the device will need to restart as soon as the upgrade is complete. You can use Addigy notifications to the end-user to assist them in restarting their device. Learn more about our notifications in our article Prompting End-Users with Notifications.
Additionally, we recommend you take a look at the usage of the startosinstall command's other options. You can run this command to see many more settings when performing the upgrade.
"/Applications/Install macOS Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall" --usage