SAP launch error in Lion

On AD bound Lion (10.7.3) Macs were were receiving the following error on launch:

Unable to load GSS-API dyld Shared Library
named "sncgss.dyld"

We have seen similar errors with Snow Leopard (10.6.x) machines and it normally indicated that 32bit mode was not enabled; this was not the case in London.

The fix we found involves setting the SNC_LIB varriable using the following commands in Terminal:

echo Setting the SNC environment for current user.
mkdir ~/.MacOSX >/dev/null 2>&1
defaults write ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist SNC_LIB "/usr/lib/libgssapi_krb5.dylib"

Strangely, this did not fix the problem right away- we had to wait for upwards of an hour for the fix to "take"; once it did the users could launch the SAP client normally.

Office 2011 SP2 Database Problems: Workaround from Microsoft

Microsoft is acknowledging that many customers are having problems with the Outlook database after applying SP2.  They have posted the following advice and workarounds:

http://blog.officeformac.com/office-for-mac-2011-sp2-database-upgrade-workaround/

Office 2011 14.2 update installation problems

We have received numerous reports of problems when attempting to install the Office 2011 SP2 (14.2) update remotely using Casper.  However, the update seems to deploy using ARD but you should be aware of a few peculiarities. 

Microsoft changed the format of their update package from an .mpkg to a .pkg.  While this might not sound like much of a change there are significant differences in how the two types work. .pkg files are flat packages that don't do anything more than bundle up files into an installation wrapper.  .mpkg files are much more customizable and can link to other packages.

It seems that even though the 14.2 updater is a .pkg it is not actually a flat file.  I don't know what magic Microsoft has tried to work but there seems to be many problems relating to this new composition.

While the updater runs fine from a local machine, attempting to deploy it though Casper does not work.  Even though Casper (and the Mac) report that the installation was successful, the Office version remains the same and the update does not get installed.

Installing the .pkg through ARD works, however when you launch Outlook you get the following error:

Deleting the daemon from the user's startup items and restarting fixes this problem.

If you launch Word before restarting you will probably see this error:

After a restart this error should go away.

Once you restart, launch Outlook and you will get the following message:

Before clicking "Upgrade" it is a good idea to back-up the user's Main Identity.

Once you click "Upgrade" you are committed- you must let it finish or you will get data corruption.  A 2GB profile on an i5 iMac took about 7 minutes to upgrade.

The upshot of all this is that SP2 is not a "fire and forget" update.  A good deal of intervention is required to ensure that the process goes smoothly.

Deploying McAfee ePO agent using Casper

Jamf has an excellent KB article on how to deploy the McAfee ePO agent.

https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/article.html?id=182

However, if you have already installed the unmanaged client you will need to remove the agent before reinstalling.

1)  Uninstall the existing (stand-alone) agent using Casper Remote by running the following command:

/Library/McAfee/cma/uninstall.sh

2)  Install the agent using Casper Remote and the following command:

 /Library/Application\ Support/McAfee/install.sh -i

If you do not first uninstall the agent you will receive the following error:

"An higher or same version of the agent is already installed installer: Error - The installed version of the agent is already greater than or equal to this version. Installation cannot continue"