[ipad] iPad Management and File storage - OSX Server or third party

[tj2419]

Hi

 

I have been looking through the forums to try find an answer to the following two questions.

 

1. Can you manage iPads via OSX server wirelessly e.g. Meaning i don't have to keep bringing them up to the office? Can i deploy apps wirelessly. E.g. Teacher wants an app on an ipad i login and allocate the app and it is installed on the ipads without the need for entering a password or any involvement ipad side?

 

2. Would a third party mdm be better?

 

3. The dreaded file storage issue. What options are there for student use? Is there anything that would allow them to access their own my documents? How are schools that have deployed a lot of ipads (not 1:1) managing files with the devices being used by multiple students. Options i can think of are below:

• Dropbox - Individual studnet accounts or a 100GB centralised account?
  
• Skydrive? Anyone been updated to the new office 365? Tried skydrive Pro on it? wiht the skydrive app.
  
• Any way to get them to use an app to access network shares? I have tried file browser but they can move back up the file structure which i don't want them to do.
  

 

Any ideas over the file storage or advice over MDM's would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

[SovietRussia]

1. Yes, that is what a MDM does

2. If you have a mac server try Profile Manager or try Meraki if you don't. You can push apps and restrictions etc.

 

3. I had to build my own app they could login to active directory and then use the share sheet to put it in there. They are not designed to do this as they are 1:1 devices.

[SovietRussia]

Oh and for no interaction from you when installing apps, you need to use Profile Manager. Meraki and other 3rd party MDMs don't support this.

[tj2419]

Hi thanks for the reply.

 

Is your app available in the App Store? Do you have anymore information about it? What do you mean by share sheet? Can student then open a file from their home directory edit it and save it back?

 

So mac osx server profile manager supports silently installing apps with no involvement the other end?

 

Cheers

[appleinschools]

Hi,

 

Hopefully i can answer your questions here.

 

1. Can you manage iPads via OSX server wirelessly e.g. Meaning i don't have to keep bringing them up to the office? Can i deploy apps wirelessly. E.g. Teacher wants an app on an ipad i login and allocate the app and it is installed on the ipads without the need for entering a password or any involvement

ipad side?

 

Answer: Yes is the short answer and this can be done in many different ways. You could use an MDM solution i.e Meraki, Lightspeed, Airwatch etc or you could just use Profile Manager which can be downloaded free from the App store on the dedicated Mac that you have chosen to manage the iPads. You should also be using Apple Configurator to do the build that will install the profile that you create in Apple Profile Manager.

 

2. Would a third party mdm be better?

Answer: All MDM are built around Apples own Profile Manager and basically have different ways of performing the same tasks. However Meraki is free so worth a download and trial run to see if it lives upto your expectations.

 

 

3. The dreaded file storage issue. What options are there for student use? Is there anything that would allow them to access their own my documents? How are schools that have deployed a lot of ipads (not 1:1) managing files with the devices being used by multiple students. Options i can think of are below:

• Dropbox - Individual studnet accounts or a 100GB centralised account?
  
• Skydrive? Anyone been updated to the new office 365? Tried skydrive Pro on it? wiht the skydrive app.
  
• Any way to get them to use an app to access network shares? I have tried file browser but they can move back up the file structure which i don't want them to do.
  

Answer: There is a simple way that this should be set up. You can setup WebDav on your windows server, open a few ports and download WebDav Navigator app on the iPads and you should be able to put the server path to your shared folders or Active Directory and connect securely to your already existing file server. This should free the space on the iPads for App storage only as all the work should be saved back onto your windows server. You might also want to install an IOS Print server program i.e Printopia or Fingerprint (around £20) and this will let you print from the iPads to your already existing printers.

 

Another great tip: download the app called 'Puffin' this is a free education browser that will let you access all your flash content i.e education city, Mathletics, MyMaths etc....

 

Hope this helps you out. Give me a shout if you need any more help.

I am in school every day advising on these issues so happy to help.

[SovietRussia]

No it isn't sorry, Apple won't accept it through. No what it is is a one way thing, working on getting it two way in the future. The students write something in pages, they use the share button which opens the iOS share sheet, they tap the app, sign in using ldap and it gets uploaded to home area.

 

Yeah, using profile manager means no interaction the other end as its a trusted mac source.

[tj2419]

Your app sounds very useful! Shame yet won't let it in the App Store. You have any method of sharing it?

 

Thanks

[howartp]

Assuming you're asking these questions because you're planning purchasing and deploying some iPads, you might want to wait until iOS 7 comes out. It brings with it many advances to MDM management which developers have just been told about this week but won't be public for a while.

 

It includes a good reason not to even purchase the devices until iOS 7 is out, at least until more info is available on a particular feature I'm thinking of.

 

Peter

[howartp]

Your app sounds very useful! Shame yet won't let it in the App Store. You have any method of sharing it?

 

Thanks

 

Although not free, we've bought an app called FoldR from minnow.it (via a reseller) - you install it on your network then it exposes whichever shares you want via webdav and also a HTML5 browser interface. We're not only using it for the iPads but also home desktops as well. We feel the cost is definitely worth it for the usage it will get.

 

Peter

[tj2419]

Hi do you have any rough prices for foldr?

 

Thanks

[eean]

 

Another great tip: download the app called 'Puffin' this is a free education browser that will let you access all your flash content i.e education city, Mathletics, MyMaths etc....

Watch out though, Puffin will bypass any auditing and web filtering that you have. That will rule it out for many. It's a shame, because it seems very good - the latest update allows you do download directly to your cloud drive.

[howartp]

Watch out though, Puffin will bypass any auditing and web filtering that you have. That will rule it out for many. It's a shame, because it seems very good - the latest update allows you do download directly to your cloud drive.

 

Thanks for the heads up; I'll be blocking that on Monday!

 

tj, I'll pm you in a moment.

 

Pwter