Building DDM Declarations, Part 1: The Data Schema Shift (XML to JSON)
Explains the shift from XML configuration profiles to DDM JSON declarations, mapping legacy payload concepts to Type, Identifier, ServerToken, and Payload.
TAG: macOS
13 articles tagged
macOS. All tags.
DDM Architecture Shift, Part 1: The Polling Bottleneck
Explains why legacy macOS MDM's polling model creates a server-side bottleneck: APNs, mdmclient, command queues, and the computational cost of repeated delta calculations.
DDM Architecture Shift, Part 2: The Autonomous Endpoint
How the macOS client becomes an autonomous desired-state engine: parsing declarations, evaluating predicates, applying configurations, and enforcing state without waiting for server commands.
DDM Architecture Shift, Part 3: Status Channel and Delta Reporting
How DDM status subscriptions let Apple devices report subscribed state changes without legacy inventory polling, using status item key paths, delta reports, FullReport, and Base64 JSON.
The Shell Crossover, Part 8: Logs and Troubleshooting from the macOS Terminal
Translate Event Viewer habits to macOS terminal troubleshooting with unified logging, log show, log stream, predicates, install.log, and tail.
The Shell Crossover, Part 7: Installing Software from the Terminal
Bridge MSI and EXE habits to macOS terminal installs with pkg, app, dmg, installer, hdiutil, pkgutil, ditto, and system_profiler.
The Shell Crossover, Part 6: Permissions, Ownership, and sudo on macOS
Map Windows permission and elevation habits to macOS ownership, POSIX modes, ACL inspection, sudo, root, admin users, and SIP boundaries.
The Shell Crossover, Part 5: LaunchDaemons Are Not Windows Services
Translate Windows Services and Scheduled Tasks into macOS launchd concepts, including LaunchDaemons, LaunchAgents, plist keys, and launchctl.
The Shell Crossover, Part 4: macOS Preferences, Plists, and the defaults Command
Translate registry habits into macOS preference work with plist files, preference domains, defaults, plutil, and the boundary with configuration profiles.
The Shell Crossover, Part 3: zsh for PowerShell Administrators
Translate PowerShell habits into practical zsh usage on macOS, including command equivalents, quoting, variables, exit codes, pipes, and text tools.
Group Policy vs Apple MDM Configuration Profiles
A translation guide for senior Windows administrators on moving from Active Directory Group Policy Objects to Apple MDM Configuration Profiles for macOS fleet management.
The Shell Crossover, Part 2: Finding Your Way Around macOS from the Terminal
Map Windows filesystem and PowerShell navigation concepts to macOS paths, Library folders, Volumes, zsh commands, and PowerShell 7 on the Mac.
The Shell Crossover, Part 1: PowerShell on macOS
A practical guide to using PowerShell 7+ on macOS for Windows administrators crossing into Apple fleet management.