Examples for using configuration profiles include enforcing a screen lock, disk encryption, or deploying a certificate to secure a device.Īs the new work norms of 2020 and beyond include supporting a distributed workforce, IT administrators need the ability to remotely manage and deploy configuration profiles to machines. In order to satisfy security and compliance requirements, IT administrators use configuration profiles to put their devices into a desired state. Why an MDM is Required to Manage macOS Big SurĬonfiguration profiles are the technical, behind-the-scenes “how” for macOS device management.

Removing this ability in macOS Big Sur makes implementing an MDM a requirement for admins managing Mac devices. It seems like a team at Apple may have missed the memo about the major version change.Īs seen in Figure 2, the man page reveals a drastic change to the profiles command in macOS Big Sur stating that the ability to install configuration profiles is no longer supported.įigure 1 shows that installing configuration profiles is the first use case used in the description of the current profiles command running on macOS Catalina, so removing this functionality is a big deal.ĭeprecating the ability to install configuration profiles using the profiles command very well may be the reason for the major version change. It can be seen in this screenshot that the man pages reference macOS Big Sur as 10.16 not as 11.0. The Apple man pages give insight into what is changing in this major version upgrade.įigure 1 : Screenshot of the man page for the profiles command version 7.17 running on macOS Catalinaįigure 2: Screenshot of the man page for the profiles command version 8.04 running on macOS Big Sur beta. In macOS Big Sur, the command line Profiles Tool is getting a major version update, jumping to Version 8 from Version 7 which shipped with macOS Catalina. Although Apple hasn’t released a definitive answer, testing with macOS Big Sur betas uncovers another major version change under the hood of macOS that very well may be the reason Apple is upgrading from macOS 10.15 to macOS 11.

Big sur remote management