Upgrading to Jamf Connect 2.0.0 or Later

Jamf Connect 2.0.0 introduces significant changes to how Jamf Connect is configured and deployed to users. Key changes that impact configuration and deployment include the following:

  • Jamf Connect is now a single installer package

  • Jamf Connect's menu bar apps, Jamf Connect Sync and Verify, have been unified into a single menu bar app.

  • The unified Jamf Connect menu bar app has a new preference domain and supported preference keys.

Due to these significant changes, upgrading to Jamf Connect 2.0.0 involves some additional configuration and management tasks to ensure a successful deployment:

If you deployed Jamf Connect 1.19.2 or earlier in your environment, you can use the following procedure to upgrade to Jamf Connect 2.0.0:

  1. Create a smart computer group to manage the upgrade process. You can configure the smart group criteria to include only computers with Jamf Connect 2.0.0 installed, and then include the smart group in the scope of your new configuration profiles later.

  2. Verify your existing configuration profile for the login window. If you need to make changes, create a new configuration profile for the login window.

  3. Create a new configuration profile for the menu bar app.

  4. Upload the Jamf Connect PKG to Jamf Pro.

  5. Create a policy to deploy the Jamf Connect PKG.

General Requirements

  • An installer PKG for Jamf Connect 2.0.0 or later

    To download Jamf Connect, go to the Jamf Connect product page in Jamf Account: https://account.jamf.com/products/jamf-connect

  • An understanding of major changes released with Jamf Connect 2.0.0

    For more information, see the Jamf Connect Release Notes.

  • Jamf Pro or another MDM Solution.

Creating a Smart Computer Group to Manage the Upgrade Process

Create a smart computer group to help you deploy your configuration profiles to computers with Jamf Connect 2.0.

  • Give the smart group a clear name, such as "Jamf Connect 2.0.0 Installed".

  • Configure the smart group criteria to only include computers with Jamf Connect 2.0.0 installed.

  • Use the criteria Application Title and enter Jamf Connect.app as the value. Your criteria should look similar to the following:

  • If you have configuration profiles for Jamf Connect 1.19.2 or eariler, edit the scope of your old configuration profiles to use your new smart group as an exclusion. This ensures that old configuration profiles are removed from computers when Jamf Connect 2.0.0 is deployed.

For instructions, see Smart Groups in the Jamf Pro Administrator's Guide.

Verifying Your Existing Configuration Profile for the Login Window

Preference keys for the Jamf Connect 2.0.0 login window are similar to those found in Jamf Connect 1.19.2 or earlier. Depending on the settings used in your environment, you may need to make few, if any, changes to your current configuration profile for the login window.

You can use any of the following to verify your login window configuration profile:

When verifying your configuration profile, make sure you do the following:
  • Confirm that your login window configuration profile is written to the com.jamf.connect.login preference domain.
  • Make sure authentication with your cloud identity provider is successful. Test authentication locally on a test computer, a VM, or with Jamf Connect Configuration's testing feature.
  • If you did not configure Jamf Pro to run authchanger arguments after installation and you want the login window enabled, make sure that the OIDCProvider or AuthServer preference key is included in the configuration profile. Jamf Connect will look for these settings and automatically run the authchanger to enable the login window, if no authchanger arguments have been previously used with installation.

If your existing configuration profile requires changes, creating a new configuration profile rather than editing your existing configuration profile is recommended. This ensures that settings used in your old configuration profile are not changed on computers until Jamf Connect 2.0 is deployed. Make sure the scope of your new configuration profile includes your previously created Jamf Connect 2.0.0 smart group.

Creating a New Configuration Profile for the Menu Bar App

Jamf Connect 2.0.0 combined the Jamf Connect Sync and Jamf Connect Verify apps into a single app called "Jamf Connect". Preferences for both apps were also combined and renamed.

As a result, you must create new configuration profile using one of the following methods:

When verifying your configuration profile, make sure you do the following:
  • Confirm that your login window configuration profile is written to the com.jamf.connect preference domain.
  • Make sure authentication with your cloud identity provider is successful. Test authentication locally on a test computer, a VM, or with Jamf Connect Configuration's testing feature.
  • Make sure the scope of your new configuration profile includes your previously created Jamf Connect 2.0.0 smart group.

Upload and Deploy Jamf Connect 2.0.0 or Later

To complete a major upgrade of Jamf Connect, you must upload the package to Jamf Pro and use a policy to deploy it to target computers.

Requirements

  • Create a smart group to manage the upgrade process.

  • Verify your existing configuration profile for the login window.

  • Create a new configuration profile for the menu bar app.

To deploy the Jamf Connect upgrade on computers with Jamf Connect 1.19.3 or earlier, upload PKG to Jamf Pro and use a policy to deploy it to target computers.

When the policy runs on computers, the follow will occur:

  • Jamf Connect 2.0.0 is installed.

    Note: The Jamf Connect 2.0.0 package installer will automatically removes Jamf Connect Sync or Verify from computers, if previously deployed.

  • Computers are added to the Jamf Connect 2.0.0 smart group membership.

  • New configuration profiles are deployed, and older configuration profiles are removed.