Endpoint Services, Munki, Software Testing and Release Policy
Overview
This article provides information on the software testing process and when software updates are released for the Technology Services' Munki Mac Endpoint Management system.
Systems
- Munki Mac Endpoint Management
Affected Customers
- University of Illinois IT Pros leveraging Technology Services Endpoint Services' Munki Mac Endpoint Management
Actions
Software Testing and Promotion Process
In the normal course of business, the Endpoint Services (EPS) team is continually making available new or updated packages for the use of our clients.
The EPS team utilizes an automated system to check for and download available software updates. As these updates are automatically downloaded, they are placed into one of the "raw" catalogs (global_free_raw, UofI_licensed_raw, or UIUC_licensed_raw).
Once the EPS team has performed an initial round of testing and found no issues, the updates are promoted to one of the "testing" catalogs (global_free_testing, UofI_licensed_testing, or UIUC_licensed_testing). It's recommended that the testing catalogs be used for the computers of IT pros or tech-savvy users for additional testing.
When the next round of weekly software releases arrives, packages are promoted to one of the "production" catalogs (global_free_production, UofI_licensed_production, or UIUC_licensed_production). It's recommended that the production catalogs be used for most end-user computers.
| Catalog Name: | Description: |
| Raw | Software that has been imported from the Internet. No testing has been performed. |
| Testing | Software that has been initially tested by the EPS team and no issues were found. Recommended for IT pros or tech-savvy users. |
| Production | Software that has passed testing. It's recommended that most end-user computers use these catalogs. |
Software Release Policy
The EPS team has also developed the following software update policy:- To maintain an acceptable level of security for campus endpoints, the EPS team will release any available security and web browser updates on the same day they are released by vendors.
- Due to their high saturation and impact, Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) packages will be held for a minimum of a week following their release by vendors. Additionally, Office and Adobe updates may be held longer if there are continued reports of issues in the Mac community at large.
- Munki tools (core components that make up the Munki client), will be held until the EPS team has completed testing and verified that it is compatible with the Technology Services Endpoint Services' Munki Mac Endpoint Management system.
- All other packages, aside from the three cases above, will be released weekly on Wednesday afternoons:
- Packages that are promoted to the testing catalogs before end of day Monday will be promoted to production on Wednesday.
- Packages that are promoted to the testing catalogs on Tuesday or later will be held until the following week on Wednesday.
- During campus no-change periods, only security updates will be released, and only to testing catalogs; all others will be held until the end of no-change.
Notification of Updates
Prior to promoting packages, the EPS team will send an email to the munki-announce@lists.illinois.edu mailing list every Wednesday morning with a complete list of the updates that will be promoted to production and testing catalogs.