Hands-on with built-in notifications for App Installers deployments

The folks building the App Installers framework have been hard at work on quality of life enhancements for admins (and end users) using App Installers for deployments. As you may recall, Jamf Pro 10.44 introduced built-in notification settings and configuration profiles for App Installers deployments. There are also some under-the-hood enhancements for App Installers deployments, in particular where assets for a deployment are staged and how the end user notifications are generated.

To provide an overview of how these enhancements fit into a deployment workflow, I'll go through setting up an example application deployment with JetBrains PyCharm Professional Edition.

Example deployment: JetBrains PyCharm Professional Edition

Getting started with a new App Installers deployment involves navigating to Mac Apps in the sidebar of the Jamf Pro server and selecting the Jamf App Catalog as the source. From there, search for the app to deploy (in this case, JetBrains PyCharm Professional).

Adding a JetBrains PyCharm App Installers deployment.

Once the application deployment is created, the settings for the deployment can be adjusted before the deployment is saved and begins calculating and scoping what needs to be sent out to target devices.

Example JetBrains PyCharm Professional Edition deployment in Jamf Pro

On the Configuration settings tab an admin can adjust the general settings (name, category, target group). New on this page is the Configuration profiles for additional settings section, which includes a checkbox to automatically install the supporting configuration profiles.

On the User notifications settings tab an admin can use either default values for notifications, or set their own. In the example below custom messaging has been added for the notifications.

Custom end user notifications for the PyCharm App Installers deployment.

When the deployment goes out to all devices, the computer records in Jamf Pro will show the deployment of the notifications and deadline payloads, and then later, the InstallEnterpriseApplication command for the deployment assets themselves.

MDM commands in the management history of a computer record to install configuration profiles and assets for the App Installers deployment.

On the end user device, all App Installers deployment assets are staged in the /Library/Application Support/JamfAppInstallers folder.

Deployment assets in the staging folder on an end user device in scope of the deployment.

If the targeted application for the deployment (in this case, PyCharm) is closed the app will be updated automatically as soon as the assets are staged. If the app is running, the end user will see a notification in Notification Center displaying the app icon, messaging (our custom messaging in this case), and the deadline to close the app to install the update.

Example end user notifications.

When the end user finally closes the app to install the update those staged assets act very quickly to move the new app bundle into place and clean up the staging folder.

Check out the resources below to learn more about App Installers. If you have ideas for new features or enhancements please make sure to file a feedback request. For support requests or inquiries, reach out to your Jamf Support team.

Resources:

🔗 Jamf Pro 10.44 New Features and Enhancements
🔗 Configuration Profiles for Additional App Installers Settings
🔗 An update on end user notifications for App Installers
🔗 #jamf-app-installers on the Mac Admins Slack