Mac OS server alternatives help

[toejamjoe]

Hi all.

I work in a school and I have a small department running 34 macs. We do not have the money for server app alternatives like jamf, so we are still using the OS server app to allow users to log in and for me to set restrictions/profiles to the machines. This means that I am stuck on OS Monterey. Is there anything out there that maybe has a one off payment like the OS server app, so that I can get users to logon and set profiles and which means I can update my M1 macs.

Thanks

J

 

[Euroamerican]

I gave up on learning OSX Server when they started "de-contenting" it. I don't have any personal experience with Mac admin work with JAMF, but have a bit of experience being the deployer of JAMF-managed devices and also with Macs existing/"living with" large AD networks. I did nothing more than configure them and deploy. No design work..

If you are the only admin and the only network of computers within your organization, the choice seems to be yours as to what to use. A quick search for the subject shows lots of people going with linux-based alternatives. That sounds like the route for "free" products as well....

If you are a small network of Macs within a larger organization, maybe it is time to see how their management is being done on all their non-Mac devices. Obviously, this probably means Microsoft AD and you might want to research what tools are available already in that part of the larger organization, or could be easily added to support your small and "different" fleet.

 

[bogdanw]

"MicroMDM is a project which provides an open source Mobile Device Management server for Apple devices."
https://micromdm.io/
https://github.com/micromdm/micromdm