Home > Business > Client Management >

Mac Client Management with Casper Suite

casper-reseller The Casper Suite simplifies the life of system administrators with a comprehensive platform to manage Mac OS X computers and iOS mobile devices. The Casper Suite increases the efficiency of your IT staff, reduces the cost of ownership, and minimizes liability by providing a framework that enforces software licensing compliance, security standards, energy usage, and other organizational rules and requirements.

Working with Mac administrators in business, education, and government throughout the world, JAMF Software developers have identified eight major tenets of Mac OS X client management and four major tenets of iOS mobile device management. The Casper Suite provides a comprehensive framework to manage all twelve tenets in a single console.

Mac OS X client lifecycle management

Building on a strong foundation of integration with Apple technologies - including Global Service Exchange (GSX) and Software Update Server (SUS) - and third-party software for Mac OS X, the Casper Suite allows administrators to manage the eight major tenets of Mac OS X client management:

Inventory

The hardware and software purchased by your organization represent a significant investment, yet maintaining an accurate inventory of what has been purchased can be problematic and time consuming.

Inventory information can be utilized in a variety of ways, with its primary usage falling into two categories: compliance and planning. With the Casper Suite, inventory information is integrated into the management framework, so inventory criteria are fully searchable and can be used to scope management tasks.

Inventory Overview (Video)

Imaging

The modular approach to imaging used by the Casper Suite makes managing multiple images easy by building configurations from a library of custom packages.

Most imaging utilities are based on a monolithic approach in which administrators build one base image that includes every element for every machine. The base image is then copied and adjusted to accommodate each configuration required by the network. This approach results in many large, monolithic images that require both storage and maintenance.

Imaging Overview (Video)

Patch Management

Applying security updates to every computer on your network is a time consuming task that needs to be done multiple times per year. The Casper Suite's patch management solutions reduce the time it takes to update your network by automating the distribution process. The Casper Suite allows you to schedule releases during "off" hours in order to minimize the impact this process can have on your end users.

Software Distribution

Software distribution is easy with the Casper Suite, no matter what the situation. With multiple strategies to distribute applications to end users, the Casper Suite allows you to respond appropriately to every situation.

The Casper Suite's Policy engine allows you to deploy software to any of your managed computers using a web browser. Use Casper Remote to provide an immediate response to your end users' requests.

Patch Management & Software
Distribution Overview (Video)

Remote Control

Client management solutions are incomplete without the ability to provide support from a remote location. CasperVNC allows administrators to save time through remote support resolution, drastically increasing the number of incidents that can be resolved by a single technician each day.

With CasperVNC, technicians control client machines remotely, so issues can be quickly resolved whether the client computer is in the next room or miles away. Remote control saves your organization time and budget by minimizing end user downtime, staff requirements, IT travel time and expenses, and by allowing each technician to resolve more incidents every day.

Remote Control Overview (Video)

Settings and Security Management

With the ability to modify end-user environments and Managed Preferences from a central location, your IT department can to respond to a variety of demands as rapidly as they arise. The Casper Suite manages both system and user-level preferences through a simple user interface, scoping preferences to Computer Groups, User Groups from a directory service, Buildings, or Departments. Managed Preferences (also known as MCX) allow you to natively enforce the individual settings on any client computer. Over 250 default preferences are included with the JAMF Software Server (JSS).

Settings Overview (Video)

License Management

End users are often unaware that installing unlicensed software and using unlicensed fonts can open potentially crippling liabilities for their company, school, or organization. To prevent this, the Casper Suite provides a straightforward approach to managing serial numbers and purchasing information through any web browser.

Using Licensed Software Records, administrators can actively monitor how many licenses are deployed on their networks and schedule notifications whenever overages occur. Licensed Software Records are created easily using built-in templates that define the applications contained in many common suites of software. Licensed Software Records can be used to track multiple serial numbers and include purchasing documentation.

License Management Overview (Video)

Usage Management

Software licenses can claim a substantial part of the IT budget. Licenses that lay dormant after being deployed are a waste of funds and software. By tracking the usage of valuable software assets and removing any unused software from your client machines, these losses can be avoided.

With the Casper Suite, software usage is tracked easily and automatically, allowing you to reclaim licenses and reduce software budgets. The Casper Suite provides a historical log of any software that has been opened and used in the foreground. These logs can be viewed according to machine, Computer Group, Building, or Department. The resulting information is utilized to uninstall software from computers where it is not being used.

Usage Management Overview (Video)