System Center Configuration Manager Can Now Manage Mac OS X 'Yosemite' Clients -- Redmondmag.com

System Center Configuration Manager Can Now Manage Mac OS X 'Yosemite' Clients

By Kurt Mackie
12/18/2014

Microsoft's latest System Center Configuration Manager products now support managing Mac OS X 10.10 ("Yosemite") clients.

It's now possible to use System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager or System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1 with Macintosh clients running Apple's latest operating system release, according to Microsoft's announcement on Wednesday. Apple released its Yosemite OS in mid-November.

In order to start managing Macs running Yosemite, System Center users have to download and install the latest Configuration Manager client certificate on a Mac device. Microsoft describes the process in this TechNet article. The "client certificate" term seems also to go by the "workgroup client" name.

The workgroup client for System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager can be accessed here.

The workgroup client for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 is available at this page.

With the workgroup clients (or client certificates) added, it's possible to use Configuration Manager to discover Mac OS X systems with Active Directory. Applications can be deployed and software updates can be managed, including patching. Compliance with an organization's policies can be enforced. Mac OS X hardware can be inventoried.

Microsoft is recommending that a hotfix for System Center Configuration Manager be applied first in order to use the new capabilities. In particular, Microsoft pointed to a hotfix available through this KB3013398 Knowledge Base article, which describes enabling Yosemite client device management. Depending on which Configuration Manager product is used, organizations may have to have certain cumulative updates in place, the KB article warns.

Microsoft's announcement also indicated that its System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection for Mac product will be getting new Yosemite support. No timeline was mentioned, though.

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.

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