Note
The information in this topic applies only to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1.

You can use compliance settings in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager to monitor and remediate settings on Mac computers. The Mac OS X operating system uses property list (or plist) files to store application settings. Use compliance settings to evaluate and remediate the compliance of settings that are stored in a property list file. You can also manage Mac OS X settings by writing a Shell Script that returns a value that you can evaluate and remediate for compliance.

Important
Configuration Manager does not support the deployment of configuration baselines for Mac computers to users.

Use the following required steps to create a configuration item for Mac computers by using the Create Configuration Item Wizard.

Step Details More information

Step 1: Start the Create Configuration Item Wizard

Start the wizard in the Assets and Compliance workspace in the Compliance Settings node.

See Step 1: Start the Create Configuration Item Wizard in this section.

Step 2: Provide General Information about the Configuration Item

Specify that you want to create a Mac OS X configuration item and provide general information.

See Step 2: Provide General Information about the Configuration Item in this section.

Step 3: Specify Supported Platforms for the Configuration Item

Supported platforms are the operating systems on which a configuration item is assessed for compliance.

See Step 3: Specify Supported Platforms for the Configuration Item in this section.

Step 4: Configure Settings for the Configuration Item

A setting represents the business or technical conditions to be used to assess compliance on client devices.

See Step 4: Configure Settings for the Configuration Item in this section.

Step 5: Configure Compliance Rules for the Configuration Item

Compliance rules specify the conditions that define the compliance of a configuration item.

See Step 5: Configure Compliance Rules for the Configuration Item in this section.

Step 6: Complete the wizard

Complete the wizard to create the new configuration item. The configuration item is displayed in the Configuration Items node of the Assets and Compliance workspace.

No additional information.

Step 7: Add the configuration item to a configuration baseline

Use the Create Configuration Baseline dialog box to add configuration items to a configuration baseline that you can then deploy to Mac computers.

See the topic How to Create Configuration Baselines for Compliance Settings in Configuration Manager.

Step 8: Deploy the configuration baseline to Mac computers

Use the Deploy Configuration Baselines dialog box to define configuration baseline deployments, which includes adding or removing configuration baselines from deployments in addition to specifying the evaluation schedule.

Note
If you want to build a collection containing only Mac computers, create a collection that uses a query rule and use the example WQL query in the Example WQL Queries section in the topic How to Create Queries in Configuration Manager.

See the topic How to Deploy Configuration Baselines in Configuration Manager.

Step 9: Monitor the configuration baseline for compliance

You can monitor the compliance of configuration baselines for Mac computers from the Configuration Manager console, by using reports, or by creating collections based on configuration baseline compliance.

See the topic How to Monitor for Compliance Settings in Configuration Manager.

Supplemental Procedures to Create a New Configuration Item for Client Computers

Use the following information when the steps in the preceding table require supplemental procedures.

Step 1: Start the Create Configuration Item Wizard

Use this procedure to start the Create Configuration Item Wizard.

To start the Create Configuration Item Wizard

Step 2: Provide General Information about the Configuration Item

Use this procedure to provide general information about the configuration item.

To provide general information about the configuration item

Step 3: Specify Supported Platforms for the Configuration Item

On the Supported Platforms page of the Create Configuration Item Wizard, select the Mac operating systems on which the configuration item will be assessed for compliance, or click Select all.

Step 4: Configure Settings for the Configuration Item

Use this procedure to configure the settings in the configuration item.

To create a setting

Step 5: Configure Compliance Rules for the Configuration Item

Use the following procedure to configure compliance rules for the configuration item.

Compliance rules specify the conditions that define the compliance of a configuration item. Before a setting can be evaluated for compliance, it must have at least one compliance rule.

To create a compliance rule

See Also