{"id":111621,"date":"2024-09-25T09:13:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T16:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=111621"},"modified":"2024-09-25T09:27:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-25T16:27:21","slug":"mastering-mac-mdm-best-practices-for-managing-your-macos-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/mastering-mac-mdm-best-practices-for-managing-your-macos-fleet\/","title":{"rendered":"Mastering Mac MDM: Best Practices for Managing Your macOS Fleet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Mac usage has steadily increased in recent years, particularly in business. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Apple shipped 16.1 percent<\/a> of all personal computer units in the United States, per Gartner. Moreover, IDC anticipates the number of Macs sold to business users worldwide will increase by 20%<\/a> between 2023 and 2024. IDC also reports that 76% of IT decision makers<\/a> believe Macs are more secure than other computers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this surge of Macs in the workplace and increased focus on security, IT administrators increasingly require mobile device management (MDM) to protect, secure, and manage these remote devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, we\u2019re digging into all things Mac MDM, including best practices for implementing MDM in your enterprise and why it\u2019s so important to seek out Mac-native tools to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is mobile device management (MDM)?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

MDM enables you to securely manage and control Apple devices\u2014such as iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple TVs\u2014remotely. With MDM, IT administrators can configure devices, deploy apps, enforce security policies, manage updates, and track device inventory all from a centralized platform. For IT teams, the main purpose of MDM is to improve their management and control over their fleet of devices, especially devices that aren\u2019t on-premises like those for remote workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How MDM works in practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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  1. Device enrollment:<\/strong> A device is enrolled via automated device enrollment (ADE), a third-party MDM tool like Jamf<\/a>, Kandji<\/a>, or Munki<\/a>, manual setup, QR code, or a URL.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Device configuration:<\/strong> MDM pushes settings (Wi-Fi, VPN, email), security policies (passcode, encryption), and apps to the device.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Ongoing management:<\/strong> MDM continuously monitors the device\u2019s compliance with organizational policies and can enforce restrictions or trigger actions (like updating software, changing user permissions, etc.) when needed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Device retirement:<\/strong> When a device is retired or a user leaves, the MDM can deprovision the device, sometimes wiping or restoring it to factory settings.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    MDM solutions provide a centralized, scalable, and secure way to manage devices in an enterprise setting. This ensures consistency, enhances security, and simplifies IT administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What are some advantages of MDM for Macs?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Using MDM for Macs in an enterprise environment offers several advantages, particularly in terms of security, efficiency, and scalability. Here are some key benefits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    1. Enhanced security:<\/strong> Mac MDM tools frequently make use of the built-in Apple management framework, and one of the most significant benefits of MDMs are their robust security features. With features such as location tracking, remote data wiping, encryption enforcement, and strong authentication methods, MDM solutions protect businesses from cyber threats and unauthorized access. They allow you to enforce security settings like passcodes, encryption (FileVault), and password complexity requirements across all Macs. They also allow you to implement web security policies, blocking access to harmful sites, restricting app installations, controlling software updates, and preventing malicious downloads.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Centralized device management:<\/strong> You can automate enrollment and configure devices remotely, setting up Wi-Fi, VPN, email, and other necessary system preferences without user intervention. This functionality enables touchless deployment, allowing you to ship laptops directly to employees and enroll them remotely, without your IT team ever having to touch the machine. Mac admins can also assign custom configuration profiles to different user groups (e.g., for different departments), allowing flexible yet consistent policy enforcement.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Self-service: <\/strong>As you scale, it becomes increasingly important to limit rights on employee machines, depending on the department and the level of access they need. With MDM, you can populate a self-service portal where employees can access the software they need to do their jobs, including licensed and paid apps. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Streamlined app deployment and management: <\/strong>You can easily deploy apps from the Mac App Store or distribute custom internal apps, and then centralize automatic updates for those applications.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. Efficient patch and update management:<\/strong> MDMs can schedule and enforce macOS updates, reducing vulnerabilities by ensuring all devices are running the latest versions. Automated and remote updates reduce the need for manual interventions and device downtime.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    6. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) support:<\/strong> MDM supports BYOD environments by providing a separation between personal and work data on the same machine, making it flexible for both company-owned and personal devices.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Challenges with Mac MDM<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      One of the challenges of managing Apple devices at scale is keeping the Mac operating system (macOS) updated across your fleet of machines. Apple has made changes to how that works over the years. As a Mac admin in a corporate environment, you have to balance conflicting demands\u2014you need to make sure your fleet of machines is up to date and in compliance, but you also need to do so in a way that isn\u2019t disruptive to end users, minimizes downtime, and avoids sudden unexpected reboots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      To answer this challenge, the open-source community has come together with solutions. Third-party, open source scripting can be leveraged within your MDM to allow you more flexibility and control over macOS updates, allowing you to expand user options for updates while at the same time setting deadlines for those updates to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Another challenge of using MDM solutions is navigating the increasingly restrictive permissions introduced by Apple. Starting with macOS 10.14 and in updates since then, Apple added security to parts of the computer it considers sensitive or critical. While these restrictions enhance user privacy and security, they can limit IT administrators’ control over devices. Applications that require sensitive access to these parts of the system, like backup clients or anti-virus software, now require additional permissions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Silently installing these types of apps now requires an additional component, a custom policy configuration that grants full disk access. This will be different depending on the MDM you\u2019re using, but Jamf<\/a>, for example, offers the Privacy Preferences Policy Control (PPPC) Utility<\/a> to help you create configuration profiles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Best practices for Mac MDM<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Managing Macs in an enterprise environment can be a complex task that can have a big impact. One of the biggest benefits of MDM is reducing IT workload. Centralized and automated management reduces the time and effort needed to configure and manage each Mac manually, allowing you to focus on more strategic tasks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      But, effective MDM requires some other building blocks to be in place before you can realize all of those advantages. Here are some best practices for Mac MDM:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      1. Choose the right MDM solution<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n