iPad Management with Apple Profile Manager

[JonnyAlpha]

Hi;

 

Please bear with me, I am a teacher who is lead for computing in school and as a result of that and my interest in IT I manage the schools IT but we have an offsite IT contractor for all the serious stuff. I have no IT qualifications to speak of.

 

I have inherited a mixture of iPads, the majority of which are managed with Profile Manager on a Mac Mini in our school, however there are about 15 that for whatever reason do not appear in Profile Manager.

 

I am now in the process of trying to get the non managed 15 iPads onto Profile Manager but am having a lot of difficulties and have a couple of questions. Our offsite IT contractor started but is only in school once a month and therefore I have taken it on.

The plan is to wipe them and set them up for remote management, however this is becoming very difficult because some of the iPads are still signed in to Apple iTunes and iCloud by staff that are no longer in school and some of the existing teachers have forgotten their Apple ID's. We do have a default Apple ID password but many users have not used it!!

 

I have managed to link a couple to PM and have deployed a couple of apps using PM successfully. Yippee

 

However I am having some real difficulties with some of the others.

 

First problem (there will be more) which I have now resolved was that one particular iPad allows me to install the Trust Profile but always fails when I try to install the Enrollment Profile. Message says:

Profile Installation Failed:

 

The server certificate for "https://macserver.(our schools domain name/devicemanagement/api/device/auto_join_ota_service" is invalid?

 

I managed to get past this after an extensive search and found that the Trust Certifcate was turned off in Settings on the iPad. However now that it appears in Profile Manager I am unable to wipe it, whether I try to Wipe it when accessing Profile Manager on the device itself and selecting My Devices This iPad Wipe, or thorugh Profile Manager on another device, it just sticks at Wipe Pending!!

 

Another management related question:

After Wiping the iPads, when setting up those that I have managed to wipe, I have skipped the Apple ID and was planning on letting the teachers put in thier own but restricting it to using a school email address and the default password. Hoping that as they are then remotely managed we can reset the password? This causes an issue as it still allows a teacher to sign out and then sign back in using a different Apple ID and or changing the password.

 

I do have an IT email address so could I create a unique apple ID using this school email address and a new unique password known only to me and then use this to setup all of the managed devices?

 

FYI

The process I am following is:

 

1. Click on the users name if applicable and click sign out.

2. Click sign out of iCloud and Store, enter password, this switches of Find My iPad if switched on.

3. Navigate to the Mac Mini server using the iPads Safari Browser.

3. Login

4. In Profile Manager select the button at the top right hand side of the screen.

5. From the drop down menu select "Go to my devices".

6. Click on Profiles and Install both the Trust Profile and the Enrollment Profile.

7. Click on the Devices Tab and select Enroll - after a short delay, the iPad should now appear in profile Manager

8. In Profile Manager select Devices and select the iPad that you have just enrolled.

9. Add the apps that you wish to deploy.

10. Have a cuppa

[TwistedHelixis]

Sorry deleted as made no sense

[tmoon-mint]

Unfortunately I have little experience with Profile Manager as I have always used an MDM instead for iOS management. I can however hopefully help with your other question.

 

If you havent already get signed up to Apple School Manager.

 

https://school.apple.com

 

Once setup you can create managed Apple IDs that you have complete control over unlike personal ones. If a user forgets their password you can just log into ASM and reset it. If you have devices that are activation locked to an Apple ID that you no longer have access to you can contact Apple Support with proof of purchase and they will be able to unlock the device for you.

[AlanD]

I'm not saying you won't be able to do this yourself... But there are potential pitfalls.. And turns and twists on the way... I would recommend you get... And yes that means paying... For your local apple support to help you through this.

 

It's one thing being a lead to deliver ICT skills it's another to blunder through a maze of operations that you have no experience of. There is danger.. that you would end up with a configuration that either doesn't work... Or worst.. Doesn't work well and causes frustration.