What’s New in MDS 1.8

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byTimothy Perfitt
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MDS 1.8 adds in a slew of features to make deploying modern Macs fast.

Resource and Workflow Syncing

In environments with a central IT or with remote offices, MDS 1.8 makes it easy to define workflows and resources and sync them to remote locations. Define your workflows and settings as you always have then select Save Master For Syncing… in the File menu. All of the active workflows, resources such as macOS, packages, settings, profiles and more are copied to a disk image. Copy the disk image to a central file or web server. Remote admins enter the path to the disk image in the Preferences for MDS 1.8, and then select File->Sync Now. All of the saved workflows and resources are synced to the local Mac and the administrator can then create install drives and disk images for deployment. Since syncing is used, any updates are fast since only the resources that have changed are copied.

Improved Automaton Updating and Configuration

Create an Automaton has always been easy with MDS and MDS 1.8 makes it even easier. MDS now is able to put the Automaton in programming mode automatically so you don’t have to press the programming button. Plug in the Arduino and the firmware is automatically installed or upgraded.

Configuring the Automaton is now faster and more consistent. The Automaton command can now be consistently up to 240 characters, allowing you to create more powerful Automaton commands.

Easier to Use

MDS 1.8 upgrades the controls in the main MDS interface. You can now duplicate or delete multiple workflows at once. Keyboard shortcuts have been added for all commands. Exporting workflows now only exports the selected workflows so you can be more selective in exporting. Exporting also now provides an option to include or exclude password information.

Automatically Erasing FileVault volumes with MDS Automaton

With the new T2 Macs that have FileVault enabled, you had to manually erase the volume before running the workflow. With MDS 1.8, you can now use the MDS automaton to do it for you for a completely automated setup.

Other New Features

  • Make Automatons for configuring Chromebooks
  • Have a workflow create multiple user accounts when installing macOS
  • Set a new user account to automatically log in
  • Computer name variables: Have workflow prompt to set computer name, then format the supplied value using a preset text template

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