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I am looking to shutdown iMac computers triggered by an external/other system. Its for a fully automated internet cafe, to include iMac's where the "central automation software" can trigger a shutdown of the iMac if the paid time is consumed.

With windows/intel PC's it is possible to trigger a shutdown of the PC from another system (cybercafe with a central managed system that triggers the shutdown when the time the customer paid for is fully consumed) My question is, if that is also possible for an iMac. If so, how ?

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  • Welcome to Ask Different. I’ve edited your answer in the post. This is very achievable and the main thing left to clarify is do you want to buy this software or set it up yourself? I’ll answer the easier where you remotely tell the other computer when to shutdown.
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Aug 24 at 12:36

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Any ssh client can log in remotely and issue a log out or shut down command. Linux, Unix and macOS all ship with ssh. Windows, try the putty program.

ssh user@hostname
sudo shutdown -h +25

The shutdown command with +25 would be for someone that paid for 25 minutes and the machine shuts down unless it’s cancelled. You can get as fancy as you with with AppleScript or making a process to read a value from the controlling computer. It all depends on how much money you want to spend and how much reading on the free tools you like to do to get a few details correct.

If you wanted to buy software to help you manage all these Macs, I would start with Apple Remote Desktop.

You’re going to need to manage which apps you install, update the OS, make new user accounts for the clients, change settings to enable guest mode, etc…

Managing their sessions is just the start for your business to work. If you have more money than time, you might choose an MDM to automate things further and let a programmer help with the billing software to integrate with how long each session is and not need Apple Remote Desktop eventually based how much MDM you do. Probably you wouldn’t invest in MDM until hundreds of Macs need managing or you set this up for a chain of cafes.

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