How to Avoid Common Errors When Deploying Parallels Mac Management

Here are some of the most important tips for novices of Parallels® Mac Management for Microsoft® SCCM. They can help you understand important basics and avoid errors when starting professional Mac® administration.

Separate BYOD and Corporate Mac Computers

In many organizations, Mac computers are typical bring-your-own-device (BYOD) options, performing specific tasks in some departments. If and when IT introduces professional Mac administration using Parallels Mac Management, all Mac should be included and managed this way. Device management is relevant not just for corporate devices but also for any BYOD Mac accessing internal systems and data on the network. However, you should handle the organization’s own Mac and employees’ BYOD devices separately and manage them differently. This is easily done with Parallels Mac Management. To do this, administrators need to create multiple “device pools” in Parallels Mac Management and define different policies and rules for each of those pools. This enables admins to roll out corporate Mac computers completely managed by IT and manage third-party devices only as much as needed.

Configure Multiple Locations Accurately

If your organization works with more than one instance of device management and uses several system management servers (SMS)—because of multiple locations or other reasons—this architecture needs to be set up correctly. The Parallels Configuration Manager Proxy is available for Parallels Mac Management. Its job is to aggregate requests for auxiliary locations and secondary SMS and minimize data traffic to the headquarters’ main device-management server.

Understand Error Messages

“Unable to install Parallels Mac Management.”

If the installation fails and is aborted, it’s usually because the .NET Framework 3.5 is not installed. You can easily correct this by running the “Add Roles and Features” wizard.

“A connection to the Parallels Configuration Manager Proxy could not be made.”

This error message means that registering Parallels Mac Management Agents has failed. You would then receive the message, “Could not connect to Parallels Configuration Manager Proxy.” This can occur when you attempt to install the agent on a Mac manually and the Configuration Manager Proxy is not accessible. The reason for this can be a misconfigured firewall or that the proxy service has been halted.

How to Avoid Deployment Errors

Parallels provides a Deployment Guide (complete with a checklist) that should help you deploy Parallels Mac Management smoothly.