From the course: macOS for IT Administrators

Philosophy of macOS administration - Mac OS Tutorial

From the course: macOS for IT Administrators

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Philosophy of macOS administration

- [Instructor] The philosophy of administration of any platform comes out of a larger philosophy of how to care for things. IT admins have to cover a lot of ground. We care for the software, the hardware, and most importantly, we care for the people who use the equipment and software we provide. Mac users and the Macs themselves require a different administrative approach. Mac administration has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Apple locks down the macOS and Mac hardware more and more with each newly released version to prevent malicious activity. This is great for users, but makes being a Mac admin a lot more challenging. We no longer have access to much of the operating system because of system integrity protection. With 10.15 we saw the entire operating system moved to a read-only volume. APFS, or Apple File System, when released, rendered virtually every disk utility available from third-party software developers unusable. Mac admins lost many useful tools with that change. Apple removes administrative access, which forces a shift in our approach. Maintenance is now less about periodic cleaning and more about monitoring and reporting and employing new tools that fit into the new model, like MDM. Computer deployment now requires knowledge of mobile device management and not NetBoot servers. Everything shifts and with it, you have to shift. Backup is more important than ever because of the wide adoption of security models requiring full disk encryption. If a hard drive went bad 10 years ago, you could run a utility and recover data. If an encrypted volume won't mount, it can't unlock it, so the only thing to do is restore from backup. The philosophy of Mac systems administration must change from a past where being clever and tweaking the OS to bend it to your will was a badge of honor to a future where we are user-focused, solution-centered, and committed to best practices. From now on, an important part of any IT admins role will be knowing when it is most appropriate to go outside of the manufacturer's tools to find best in class, third-party tools. Frankly, most of us, probably going to need to become at least passable programmers, too. I'm Sean Collins. I've worked as a Mac systems administrator for over 30 years. In all that time, I've learned a lot and I want to share it with you. Allow me to invite you to join me as we learn the most important technical and management tools and tips to crush it as an IT admin of macOS systems.

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