"I Have No Idea What Terraform Is" - Infrastructure as Code for Mac Admins

Dec 19, 2025

Ryan Legg, a Solutions Engineer at Jamf specializing in Infrastructure as Code and Terraform, dives into the challenges of manual Jamf configurations. He explains how Terraform streamlines management, giving organizations a way to automate their setups without scripting. Ryan highlights the need for version control, audit trails, and scalability, especially for managed service providers and enterprises. He urges admins to embrace Infrastructure as Code now, sharing resources to help them get started.

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INSIGHT

Treat Config Like A Software Project

Infrastructure as code treats configuration like a software project with versioning and pipelines.
That approach gives auditability, rollback, and accountability compared to manual ClickOps.

ADVICE

Use Git Workflows For Safe Changes

Use Git and pull requests so multiple admins review and approve changes before they reach production.
Add automated tests and workflows to validate changes against sandboxes before applying to production.

INSIGHT

Terraform Hides API Churn

Terraform abstracts API differences so your local code stays stable while providers adapt to API changes.
The provider acts as a translator between your declarative config and the evolving API endpoints.

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If you're clicking through Jamf Pro configs manually, you're about to learn why that's becoming a problem. Security teams are starting to ban console access. MSPs are wasting hours rebuilding the same configs for each client. And organizations scaling to hundreds of Macs are drowning in manual changes with zero audit trail.

Ryan Legg, Jamf's Solutions Engineer for Infrastructure as Code, breaks down how Terraform lets you manage your entire Jamf environment through code instead of clicking. Whether you're managing 50 Macs or 5,000, here's why this matters NOW.

CHAPTERS

4:45 What is Infrastructure as Code - Explained for Non-Coders

8:15 What is Terraform and Why It Exists

11:30 How Terraform Talks to the Jamf API (Without You Writing Scripts)

14:45 Jamf Terraform Provider - 2+ Years in Development

18:20 Version Control for Configs - Git, Testing, Rollback

21:40 Why This Matters - Audit Trails, No Manual Errors, Scalability

24:30 MSP Use Case - Deploy to Multiple Clients in Minutes

27:15 Enterprise Use Case - Manage Hundreds of Configs with Code

30:10 Small Team Use Case - Document Everything as You Build

34:00 Why Every Admin Should Learn This NOW - The Future is Code

37:13 Getting Started - Resources and Documentation

39:09 Wrap-Up - Where to Get Help

What You:

4:45 "Treating your Jamf config like a software project" - what that actually means

18:20 Multiple admins can submit changes through pull requests - no more stepping on each other

24:30 MSPs: Stop rebuilding configs manually - use one Terraform module across all clients

30:10 - Small teams: Codify early so the next person doesn't start from zero

34:00 - "Organizations are requiring admins OUT of consoles" - security trend you need to know

RESOURCES:

Jamf Concepts (Start Here): https://concepts.jamf.com

Trusted by Jamf (Tutorials): https://trusted.jamf.com

Jamf Developer Portal: https://developer.jamf.com

MacAdmins Slack: https://macadmins.org

WHO NEEDS TO WATCH:

Mac Admins who manually configure Jamf Pro (you're wasting time)

MSPs managing multiple Jamf instances (you're rebuilding the same thing repeatedly)

IT teams scaling past 500+ devices (manual configs won't scale)

Jamf After Dark: A podcast about managing Apple devices, hosted by Kat Garbis and Josh Thornton.

Guest: Ryan Legg, Solutions Engineer III at Jamf

#JamfAfterDark #Terraform #JamfPro