In Plain English: Native OS X provisioning

Businesses and schools often need to add software, apps, and settings onto Mac computers following the initial purchase of hardware. To accomplish this, machines are imaged or provisioned— meaning content that wasn’t part of the original Operating System (OS) has been deployed and added.

Native OS X provisioning emerges
As a few methods for deploying content surfaced, with middling success, Native OS X provisioning was introduced. The basis for Native OS X provisioning is to start with a clean OS that has been tested by Apple or another vendor, IT then uses enrollment programs, such Apple’s Device Enrollment Program (DEP) or web enrollment to manage the OS.

Casper Suite and Native OS X provisioning
By using the Casper Suite, and its Smart Groups feature, IT can determine the state of the OS and apply policies (scope policies to Smart Groups) to transform the OS to the desired state.

Example of a Native OS X provisioning workflow:

1. Receive a clean OS from Apple
2. Management is applied (via DEP or web enrollment)
3. Active Directory binds
4. Management account is installed
5. Initial root account is removed/replaced with management account
6. FileVault 2 is enabled
7. Sensitive data/applications are installed
8. Auxiliary applications are made available for use via Self Service

Learn more about ways the Casper Suite helps IT admins turn a bare-boned OS into a fully customized OS that’s ready for use.