[ipad] Testing new MDM - can I test VPP device assignment?

[sidewinder]

We currently have a bit of a complicated setup for our iPads. All pupil ones are managed through AC 1.7 and staff ones through Meraki and user assigned VPP apps. I want to migrate all to a new MDM, and I've been trialling Lightspeed Mobile Manager for this purpose.

 

One thing I want to test though is device app assignment for pupil iPads. For some reason I've never been able to get this working on Meraki - I did upgrade from the free version and I have less than 100 devices on there but my UI looks different to videos and I seem to be missing options - there is literally nowhere for me to device assign. Anyway what I'd much rather do is test this with Lightspeed before I commit, but I'm wary about adding our VPP token to multiple MDMs as I've heard it causes issues? A Lightspeed rep I talked to said I could generate multiple VPP tokens but I really don't know what he was on about as it's impossible to generate more than 1.

 

Best course of action? I need to be sure device assignment works...I'm sure it will as all our iPads are on iOS10 but I just want to see it with my own eyes before I spend £££

[biz]

I suspect the Lightspeed rep was talking about adding MDM servers in Apple School Manager. You can add multiple MDMs to ASM which will generate a new token for each MDM you add. IIRC you can assign DEP devices across to the new MDM and back again. The only thing that can't be undone is if you disown a device. I've had more than one Meraki account linked to the same ASM and VPP apps were available to device assign on either. I can't see why that wouldn't work across different MDMs.

[GrumbleDook]

MDMs, yes ... you can have multiple servers available with Deploy.apple.com / ASM and a device can be a member of only one MDM group at a time, but it is not a problem to move them back and forth ... j

 

For VPP, you download a token for each MDM you need to use it with ... but yes, you can end up having problems ... especially if the licences are not handed back! The token is simply granting the MDM access to call on your licences and assign them. Don't use the same token twice, you just download a new one each time. The existing tokens, if already on an MDM, will still work.

 

If testing, I would suggest you only test with apps on VPP that are free and you have plenty of licences for. We usually get a school to buy an app with lots of licences on VPP, show it syncing to the available app list and away you go with deploying to a DeviceID (so doesn't need an AppleID to be used). We have seen schools run out of licences before when testing with us ... because they have been handing out licences via different MDMs and not keeping a track ... so be careful.