Deploy PDQ Detect Agent for macOS using SimpleMDM

Introduction

In order to deploy the PDQ Detect agent using SimpleMDM, you'll just need to follow these simple steps: 

1. Copy the installation script from PDQ Detect
2. Create a script with the command to download, install, and connect the agent to your dashboard
3. Create a job so that SimpleMDM can deploy the script.

Copy macOS installation script from PDQ Detect

1. Log into the PDQ Detect Management Portal at https://detect.pdq.com.
2. On the left bar, click Scan Surface.
3. On the top menu, click Agent-based Surface.
   • If Agent-based Surface does not appear here, you may need to enable this feature.
     1. Browse to Settings | Client Settings.
     2. Locate the Installation Mode, and select Enable Agent-based.
     3. Click Just enable the features.
     4. You can then return to Scan Surface and click Agent-based Surface.
4. Switch to the Setup agents tab.
   • On the Use Detect Agents to gain more insights on your organization's internal security page, on the right side, you will see two important pieces of information which you will need to set up each endpoint:
     
     • 🌐Detect Agent Management URL (the custom URL that you use to manage your PDQ Detect environment)
     • 🔑Detect Agent Token (a unique alphanumeric token which your Internal Scanner VM will use to communicate with your PDQ Detect environment)
5. Under the OS options, beneath the Apple logo, click Get | Get Agent Command.
   
6. On the right side, Run the following command to install the agent will appear, along with a curl command in a text box. Note that the command includes your organization's specific Detect Management URL and Detect Agent Token.
   
   Click the copy button to copy this command to the clipboard.

Create an Installation Script in SimpleMDM

1. Log into SimpleMDM at https://a.simplemdm.com.
2. On the left navigation bar, navigate to the Scripts section.
3. Click Create Script
4. Give the script a meaningful name, such as Detect Deployment.
5. On the first line, enter a shebang:
   

   #!/bin/bash

6. Press Enter to add another line. On the second line, paste the PDQ Detect curl installation command from the clipboard exactly as it was copied above.
   
7. Click Save.

Once you have created your script, you will be able to use it to create a job to run on your devices.

Creating A Job

1. Under the Scripts section of the menu, click Jobs.
2. Click Create Job.
3. Give the job a name, such as Detect Installer Job.
4. In the Script dropdown, select the name of a script that you have previously created.
   
   
5. In the Run On field, type the names of any assignment group (from the Assignments page), device group, or individual devices that you would like to run the script on.
6. In the Run Options field, select one of:
   • Run ASAP - This will attempt to run the script immediately on the selected devices.
   • Run Later - This will run the script once at a later time and date of your choosing.
   • Run Recurringly - This allows you to create a recurring schedule for which to run the script.
     • When choosing Run recurringly, the End recurring date is the date that the recurring script job will stop running. Leave this blank if you want the job to run indefinitely. Jobs can be canceled later as needed.
7. (Optional) Cancel job if not started after allows you to specify a time after which the job will be canceled if it has not already been executed. For example, if a job is scheduled to run at Monday at 6am but the device is offline at the time and you do not want it to run during work hours, you can optionally set this to 2 hours to avoid it executing once the user is online. In this example, the command will be deleted from the device’s queue after 2 hours if it has not already been executed.
8. Click Create.
   

For more information about scripts and jobs in SimpleMDM, including how to check the completion status of jobs in progress, see the Scripts article in the SimpleMDM help center.

Confirm that your macOS device has connected to PDQ Detect

1. Back in PDQ Detect, on the left bar, click Scan Surface.
2. On the top menu, click Agent-based Surface, and select the Deployed agents tab.
3. You will see all deployed agents on this list, as well as their online/offline State.
   

Troubleshooting

If you run into any problems with the Footprint Agent for macOS, collect the log files located in this folder, and submit them via the Contact Support button in the top right corner of the help center.

/private/var/log/CODA/FootprintAgent/