15 Dec Dec 2017 – MacAdmins Meeting
Dec 20th 2017 – University of Utah, MacAdmins Meeting
The University of Utah, MacAdmins Meeting is held monthly at the Marriott Library on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 11 AM Mountain Time. Presentations cover Apple technology and integration in a heterogeneous university enterprise environment. This months meeting will be held on Wed, December 20th 2017, and we will provide live broadcasted and archives that will be made available 2-3 days after the meeting.
If you have suggestions on presentations, questions or comments, please your the Contact Us option.
AppsAnywhere – By Tony Austwick & Dave Miller, Software2
This presentation will demonstrate how AppsAnywhere, Software2’s unique application delivery platform provides universities with the most flexible virtualization and software deployment solution on the market today. It focus on what options are available when it comes to delivering Windows and Mac software to macOS, as well as Software2’s partnership with their customer, the Marriott Library. Learn how AppsAnywhere from Software2 is improving the experience of 1.5 million students at 150 universities across 20 countries worldwide.
Delivery Methods
We recognize that each method of delivering apps has its own strengths and weaknesses. That’s why we’ve built AppsAnywhere to integrate with 12 different delivery methods, so you can choose the best tool for the job. You might want to virtualize some of your heavyweight applications. You might want to point to locally installed software that you include in your image. You might want to just direct to a freely available app for self-installation like using a campus software distribution service. Whichever way you choose to do it, AppsAnywhere is there for you, giving your students one consistent place to access all the software they need for their courses and school work.
Cloudpaging
Cloudpaging is a next-generation application virtualization and delivery tool. Cloudpaging lets you package and virtualize any software, even big ‘tricky’ apps that legacy technologies like App-V and ThinApp can’t handle. Cloudpaging is a unique application delivery solution, which effectively ‘streams’ apps. The app is broken down into a number of individual segments (pages), and the initial delivery and launch of the app is achieved with a delivery of around 5-10% of the total app. The rest is ‘paged’ on demand, or provisioned silently in the background (depending on the license type chosen for the app). This allows extremely fast launching of the app, even faster the second time around when the app has been cached – indistinguishable from the launch speed of a native (locally-installed) app!
HTML5
AppsAnywhere can integrate with Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) to allow students to use apps on any device. Parallels next-generation RDS-like technology enables deploying 100% of Windows applications remotely to macOS, iOS, Android, Linux and Chromebooks. It also supports the delivery of virtual desktops, at a fraction of the cost of traditional VDI.
Future
In the future, it might be possible integrating Apple specific integrations like streaming macOS applications with Aqua Connect’s Ignision Server, installing macOS & iOS App Store applications using a Mobile Device Management (MDM) service like Jamf Pro, and distribute macOS containerized applications using Cloudpaging with technology like Veertu Anka from AppsAnywhere using its application web portal. Allowing students to access to macOS & Windows applications wherever students are, on any device, at any time, both on and off campus.
About Presenters
As co-founder of Software2, Tony championed customer projects and university virtualization needs across the globe. In 2014 Tony co-launched Software2’s US office in Cambridge, MA and implemented AppsAnywhere at four leading universities inside the first six months, including University of Michigan. Tony has also overseen Software2’s growth (from somewhat humble beginnings!) so that AppsAnywhere is now one of the turnkey solutions for universities to improve how they deliver applications using virtualization technology, and improve what they offer to students and staff.
Dave Miller is the Vice President of Business Development for the Americas based in Southern California. Due to Software2’s success in the UK and European markets, Dave was tapped to spear head Software2’s growth in the US. Dave has extensive Business Development and Management experience in technology and has a passion for Higher Education. He enjoys opportunities to bring solutions to colleges and universities that improve the student experience. Before joining Software2, Dave worked as an executive for the Walt Disney Company for 12 years.
- Video – To view archived presentation video, click here.
- Slides – To view the presentation slides, click here.
FWPM New Release – Todd McDaniel, University of Utah, Marriott Library
The Firmware Password Manager is software tha allows administrators manage the firmware passwords on Mac systems either a few to a large enterprise. The firmware password is one of three interlocking methods used to secure Apple computers. The other two are: using strong passwords on user accounts and FileVault to apply full disk encryption (FDE). Strong account passwords are always the first line of defense. FDE effectively scrambles the information written a storage device and renders it unreadable by unauthorized persons. Using all three methods can make a computer unusable should it be lost or stolen.
The latest release of Firmware Password Manager (FWPM) is version 2.5, it brings a host of new features meant to make it’s use easier. Many changes have been made to the FWPM script, including moving most option flags into a configuration file.
Two versions of FWPM for Jamf Pro are included. A version including all of the current functionality of FWPM, but moving the keylist into the script itself. And a version we call “Escrowing FWPM”, which is a beta script will allow administrators to create random firmware passwords for each machine and escrow the results in Jamf Pro, which will provide high level of security in environments that require it.
Two GUI applications have been built to make deploying and using FWPM easier: FWPM Skeleton Key and FWPM Installer Builder. FWPM Installer Builder makes deploying FWPM much easier by allowing administrators to build FWPM and keyfile installers that include all dependancies. FWPM Skeleton Key is meant to allow admins to quickly enable and disable firmware passwords on client machines, by interacting with a number of different data sources.
For more information about Firmware Password Manager, see the following GitHub repository:
https://github.com/univ-of-utah-marriott-library-apple/firmware_password_manager
- Video – To view archived presentation video, click here.
- Slides – To view the presentation slides, click here.
CCK2 & Firefox Quantum Overview – Sam Forester, University of Utah, Marriott Library
Created by Mike Kaply, CCK2 is a tool that allows for the customization of Firefox in an enterprise environment, but with the release of Firefox Quantum (v.57), previous methods of using the CCK2 Wizard have stopped working. This presentation will be discuss a basic overview of CCK2, how to leverage CCK2 customization in Firefox Quantum, and some alternative deployment techniques.
For more details about CCK2, see the following web site:
- Video – To view archived presentation video, click here.
- Slides – To view the presentation slides, click here.
FileWave New Version & Features – Jerry Case, FileWave
FileWave is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year and new version with new features were announced at FileWave’s User Conference! This presentation will provide an overview of the FileWave management Suite and announcements shared at the FileWave user conference.
Jerry has spent over 19 years in educational technology – both in K12 and higher education. He has taught at the middle school and high school level and currently holds a MA in curriculum and educational technology. His professional work experience in IT ranges from Technology Integration Coordinator at MSD of Washtingon Township and IT Coordinar at Herron School of Art, Technology Integration Specialist Ball State University, as well as time at Indiana University Student Technology Centers.
For more information about FileWave, see the following web site:
- Video – To view archived presentation video, click here.
- Slides – To view the presentation slides, click here.
Open Discussion
Questions, comments, problems and fixes.
Directions
Note, due to scheduling conflicts with our usual meeting location, we will be meeting at the Marriott Library room 1705A located inside the Faculty Center located north of Mom’s Cafe.
For directions to the University of Utah monthly Mac Managers Meetings see the following web page.
Archive & Live Presentation(s)
- A live broadcast of the presentations will be available from this web page.
- Archives of the presentations will be available from this web page.
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