Work Life: I Volunteered at #iste18 (Ask Me/ISTE Central)

As I was planning my trip to Chicago for ISTE 2018, I was encouraged to pick a couple of times to volunteer and help out with the conference. I chose a 2-hour stint as an "Ask Me" helper and a 2-hour stint on a different day to help in ISTE Central. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly. Okay, maybe not ugly.

The Good:

• ISTE volunteers receive a conference-themed t-shirt and a volunteer-only "shoe bag" tote. This really is one of the best reasons to volunteer aside from helping people. 
• As an "Ask Me" station monitor, I worked with my colleague, Jeff. We sat posted outside of the Microsoft Corporate Presentation room on the first floor. We were not given much instruction (see "The Bad" below), so we fended for ourselves as best we could. What were we asked?
• "What is the name of the street behind you?" 
• A: S Indiana Ave; via Google Maps
• "Where are the keynote authors signing books?" 
• A: ISTE Central, near book sales; We guessed and hoped we were correct
• "Where do I get the shuttle bus to my hotel?"
• A: We directed them to the conference bus depot; we knew from experience
• "Do you know where the third Playground area is? I was told there is a 'C' area."
• A: We couldn't find reference to a third area, so we directed them to the INFO booth on the third floor
• "Where is the Apple Corporate Room?"
• A: We used the ISTE app to locate the room, then direct the person to it.
• "Do you know where (such-and-such vendor) is located in the Expo Hall?"
• A: We searched for the vendor in the ISTE app and directed the person to it.
• "What are these tickets for?"
• A: Various tickets were used for raffles, session entry, etc. We walked through each ticket the attendee had, explaining what to do with each one.
• "Do you know more about the buffet upstairs?"
• A: We had no idea. we directed the person to the INFO booth on the third floor.
• "How many people does Room (such-and-such) sit?"
• A: We had no idea, but were able to make a guess based on random things we had heard from other ISTE workers.
• "How do you get to the Hyatt (or Marriott) from here?"
• A: We tried to figure this out, but even asking PAID folks from ISTE, we could not provide accurate answers. We tried.
• "Where is Michigan Avenue from here?"
• A: We found the road via Google Maps, then directed the person toward it.
• There were MANY other questions as well.
• As an "ISTE CENTRAL" volunteer, I was assigned "Poster Distribution." Jeff was assigned to the bookstore. My job was to hand out posters of the ISTE student and educator standards to passersby. For the first hour, I hounded folks waiting in line to have books signed by Andy Weir ("The Martian"). It's easy to give away stuff to people waiting in an extra long, slow-moving line. The second hour was not as productive, though I basically shoved the posters in the faces of anyone coming into/out of the Expo Hall.

The Bad:

• Conference volunteers are given little to no direction and/or instruction.
• The "Ask Me" volunteers seem to have it worst of all. There is no orientation, no "here are the top 5 or 10 things you need to know, no number/text to use in case someone asks you questions you cannot answer.
• If you are in a conference volunteer shirt, people assume you are an "Ask Me" person, even if you aren't. Luckily, I had been one, so I knew many of the answers being thrown my way while I was handing out posters. 
• Volunteers are not given/asked for any kind of debriefing after their shift. A debriefing might have helped circumvent some of the above-named issues for future volunteers.

The Ugly:

• I suppose the only "ugly" I can come up with is one attendee talked down to me for not knowing the answer to his question since I was a volunteer. I did let the guy know that I would happy to find out from an ISTE Staff member, but he tromped off. Ah well, you can't win them all.

The GOOD of volunteering far outweighs the bad and the ugly.  I wholeheartedly recommend volunteering at the next ISTE event! It is a great way to help folks, but also a fun way to meet more of the educators that attend this annual event. Stay Tuned for ISTE 2019!

 

#jnuc #jamf - 10/21 - Session 2: JSS REST API

Discussing API usage/features

Why I chose this:
This is marked as advanced session, which seems a bit counterproductive, given my first session was a "101" variety. But, the other sessions offered at this time did not appeal to me, and I wanted to see what an "Advanced" session was like. So, why not, right?


What I learned:

What it means to be RESTful

Replace in all polices with...

RADAR and Printer Chooser. Client API usage.

Representational State Transfer (REST) Methods
- Standard web calls with different methods being used.
-- Get method (get information)
-- Put method (replacing collections, update specific element)
-- Post method creates a new member element (forms in web)
-- Delete method - cannot delete entire collection, used to delete specific element

Usage: yourjssurl:port/api/

(Presenter showed examples of the methods in order to pull the "get" url and the xml response body.)

These are used in your scripts as ways to get/put/update/delete information from within your jamf scripting.

Replace in all policies with...
-- define variables
-- gather list of policies
-- loop through all policies, searching for policies which deploy a specific pkg
-- replace found entries with the updated package
-- update policy record by uploading updated xml

Define jssserver; username/password for service account; old/new package id; newaction
Gather a list of policies
Loop through all policies
Find package and replace
Update policy record

XML must be used for updating. JSON can be used to read data only.

RADAR
- Robust multi-Area Distribution Active Routing
-- Pings Distribution points in parallel then downloads from the "closest" DistPoint

Printer Chooser
- Grabs all printers defined in JSS
- Can use drop-down to find the printer. Can browse to find the printer and install.
- Specify driver to look for
- Cache all drivers on client machine
- Checks to see if driver is installed. If not, install the driver then install the printer.

Revision Control in JSS
Pull down anything from jss via XML
Commit > git hook > update jss script(s)

Q&A
Covered package-related questions such as clearing logs, not replacing unaffected packages from within a given policy. Question about the API and smart groups -  display glitched but not affect actual devices. Other Q&A as well.

#jnuc #Jamf - 10/21 - Session 1: Policies 101: Unleashing Power

As I have come to do with all my conference sessions, I will be posting about the sessions I attend, why I chose the particular sessions and what I learned while in there.

Getting ready for the session

Why I chose this session:
Since I am brand-new to JAMF, CasperSuite, etc, I am hoping to learn what I can about the software in order to help the schools in my area that are running the software or who are looking to implement it.

What I learned:

What do I want to do?
To Whom?

General
- Display Name (the "pretty" name, what users see in self-service)
- Enabled
- Category (Apps, OS, Printers, plug-ins, etc) - relevant to end-user

Triggers
- Startup (Firewall settings)
- Login (Make sure on YOUR network, then mount share, etc. validation BEFORE the attempt)
- Logout
- Network state change (wifi vs wired)
- Enrollment complete (1st-run script)
- Recurring Check-in
- Custom (useful for prerequisites)

Execution Freq
- Once per computer
- Once per user
- Once per day, week, month (ex: software updates)
- Ongoing (can make avail offline)

Server-side/client-side limitations
- particular days/times (ex: updates during work hours)
- Network connection (ex: only if on ethernet, etc)

Packages
- Install, cache, install from cache
- Select distribution point (location, cloud storage, etc)

Software Updates
- Self-service, auto-install, etc

Scripting
- first three variables taken by JAMF
-- $1 = mount point target drive
-- $2 = computer name
-- $3 = username, usually. Make sure user is logged in

Printers and Docks
- Add/remove printer configs, remove/add items from dock (without delete)

Local Accounts
- Create one
- Allow as admin
- check for filevault
- reset, delete, disable for filevault
- Ex: standardized testing environment (change pw every 24 hrs, delete acct after 14 days, etc)

Management Account
- Be different account than helpdesk uses.
- Password can be randomize it and is unknown

Restart Options
- Startup disk, installer, etc
- Issues with restarting (logged in user, running apps may be issue, etc)

Maintenace
- Update inventory
- Reset name
- Install cached items
- "Mac Voodoo" (fix permissions, flush cache, etc)

Files and Processes
- Find a file or folder, option to delete if found
- Option to kill process if running
- Run command

To Whom
- Scope
- Self-service

Scope
- Set up buildings, departments, etc
- Smart and static groups
- Targets (Can use ALL, if needed)
- Can set up exclusions (depts, groups, buildings, etc)

Self-Service
- Make standard users feel like they have power. They have control over which apps they can install, etc.
- grab icons from clipboard after copying to SS

User Interaction
- Start message (warn the user)
- Defer for 1hr, 2hr, etc

Open for Q&A
- "iBeacon was on slide?" "Yes, but for exclusions and limitations."
- "Do you recommend using update server?" "Depends on the environment. Ex: govt had to vet every update, so they used SUS. Can also use caching service (with various parameters)."
- Discussion about firmware updates. Watch for firmware updates as they will wipe out other updates, continual reboot
- limitation for custom triggers? not that they are aware. Cascading triggers are actually nested, so be careful about order and subtriggers.
- Do not lump a bunch of installs because update releases are not in sync. Keep each install/update as its own policy. Exception: dependencies, printer drivers.
- Issue discussions regarding non-installs/misinstalls. Common solution is to have two policies: one for drivers and one for printers with a check for driver before installing printer.

This photo captures just how RED this room is! Whoa!