[Casper] Software Update - laptop labs, progress indicator

[Matthew Butch]

What we have been doing is just pulling them off the cart, running  
Casper Remote on them and telling them to "Install all available  
updates". Its a pain, but it seems to be the best way to do it.

For the progress bar, we have a Unix command to run Software Update as  
sudo which allows non-admins to install them. This is set as a Self  
Service policy (the last tab allows running commands). The command is:

sudo  /System/Library/CoreServices/Software\ Update.app/Contents/MacOS/ 
Software\ Update

It gives them a nice UI to run them. We've had good feedback about it,  
and it saves us from forcing them.

-Matt


On Apr 2, 2009, at 10:22 AM, Clinton Blackmore wrote:

> Greetings.
>
> How do you handle software updates on laptop labs?  We have carts of
> laptops in our schools, and, if they are not being used by a student,
> they are charging in the cart.  That doesn't provide for a nice way to
> update them after hours without pulling each machine out of the cart,
> and yet, I don't really want to pop up a message to a student saying,
> "Your computer is going to reboot now.  Deal with it!"
>
> Also, when you use the GUI tools to do software update, the machine
> logs out and you get a nice progress indicator showing that updates
> are installing.  Is there any way to do that from the command line?
> (Yes, I know one can install updates, and Casper handles it nicely,
> but can I get the progress bar?  We had some machines set to update,
> and then found they had kernel panicked.  We wondered if a user
> noticed the machine became sluggish and forced it off.)  More
> generally, how do you convey to users that updates are in progress?
>
> Cheers,
> Clinton Blackmore
>
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--

Matthew Butch
Technology Support Analyst
Penn Manor School District
717-872-9500 x 2385
http://www.pennmanor.net

Apple Certified Macintosh Technician
Apple Certified Help Desk Specialist 10.4
Apple Certified Support Professional 10.5
Apple Certified Technical Coordinator 10.4 & 10.5
Apple Certified Systems Administrator 10.4

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