Waiting Room - How long

[khurram]

Just wondering that for how long the cached package is going to stay in Waiting Room folder. Does it get deleted right after the cached package installation or it stays forever until we run a query to delete all cached packages from the client macs.

[mm2270 · Accepted solution]

Supposed to be deleted after it gets installed. In fact, here is a Feature Request asking that the packages remain there after being installed. But its currently Not Planned. Not that I personally think it would make sense to keep the packages around in most cases mind you.

[khurram]

I have voted it down. They should be deleted after installation because what happens when you cache another package and run the install cache package policy, wouldn't it install all the cached packages again?

[Simmo]

@khurram You can specify to only install specific cached packages in a policy, when adding a package to a policy, select install cached instead of install

[khurram]

@Simmo what is the state/ file type of the cahced package before and after the installation in the Waiting Room folder.

[Simmo]

@khurram As @mm2270 said above the package should be deleted after the install cache runs.
AFAIK the file type should just be the .pkg installer, except it just doesn't run when you cache it.

[mm2270]

When a package is cached, 2 files are placed into the Waiting Room. The package itself, which could be a pkg or dmg, typically, as well as an xml file with the same name (but with the .xml extension)
So if you cache a package called "My installer.pkg", in the Waiting Room would be:

My installer.pkg
My installer.pkg.xml

The xml rides with the package and contains details about the package settings, like if it should be restricted to only install on certain OS versions and other details.
Both get removed once the package is installed. I'm not certain, but I believe even if the installation fails that both items get removed at the end of the policy to install the cached item.

[whompem42]

I know this post is a couple months old, but since I am new here I figured I would chime in. I would absolutely love to have cached packages left on systems so they can be leveraged for peer-peer package deployments. That would be a huge benefit to keep bits off the WAN....

[nessts]

Pretty sure I filed a feature request some time ago for that like last June but I cannot find it.

[cbd4s]

What about the policy package is set to cache only.
Then use a script to run the package afterwards.
My assumption is the package will then just stay there. Am I correct?
So normally I simply use the same script to remove the package and its pair xml file.

[Hugonaut]

@ccsben You are correct in your assumption. When you cache a package via a policy the cached package remains in the "Waiting Room" (pathed below for fellow admins that are unaware) until a policy to install said cached package runs & completes successfully.

/Library/Application Support/JAMF/Waiting Room

[JeyT]

I am still learning Jamf and have a question about caching to the Waiting Room. I thought when you create a package, and use it in a policy, it will get placed in the directory where the original source file was located? For example, if I choose a pkg from my desktop, and cache it by policy, won't it get place on the desktop of my client machines? Still trying to understand this. I want to cache files into the Waiting Room on my client Macs, to run later by script in a policy. I did a test from a pkg that I downloaded, created a policy to cache the pkg that was in my downloads folder, and it appeared in the downloads folder on my client Mac. Hope I am explaining this correctly. Thanks.

[cbd4s]

@tavaresj My understading is if you choose a pkg from your desktop folder and upload it to Jamf. Then setup a policy with this package action set to Cache, the package will be placed in the Waiting Room folder on the client machines, not their desktop folder. Where you uploaded the package from is irrelevant. The Waiting Room folder is designed for storing the cached package.

[kirbybj]

Once the pkg is cached to the Waiting Room, how long will the pkg remain in the Waiting Room before it is removes? Meaning, if the pkg caches while one user is logged in, will it remain in the Waiting room until it gets installed. Or does the pkg get removed once a different user logs in that is not in Scope or a period of times has elapsed?

[Joshua_spohrer]

In my experience, the package remains indefinitely. It could be manually deleted if a user knew where to look and to change directory permissions, or of course through a wipe of the volume of course. That’s it. I’ve had cached packages on my system for over a year, as it can be a convenient local repository if you’re a cloud customer.

[kirbybj]

Thank you for your response. I was asking because the pkg had cached while I was logged into a client then I logged off and 2 days later a another user logged in and the policy was caching again.