iPads storage on Meraki MDM

[Janyo]

Hi,

 

Our school has recently deployed 6 ipads for teachers through Apple School Manger and managed by Meraki MDM. While I have been through a very steep learning curve, there are still things I cant get my ead around and don't seem to get anyone to help. I wonder if anyone here would be able to help here.

 

Issue 1:

- Teachers can only upload Imovie videos to the cloud shorter than 1mins approx. It doesn't let them save to Google drive or to the device itself (there's plenty of storage everywhere). When trying to upload an iMovie, we get the message that the storage is full. My question is if there is some kind of restriction in the MDM that limits staff/instructors to upload particular size iMovie?

 

Issue 2:

- After purchasing the 6 devices, our head decided to purchase another one from the same reseller. We have managed to deploy it using Apple School Manager and get it on to Meraki MDM (see the image). However, neither I as an admin, nor the assigned teacher aren't able to log in to the device even if it says it's managed by our organisation at the start of the set up.

 

I know it's quite a bit. I was wondering if there's any particular training for Meraki MDM available out there to learn how to deploy and manage devices at a small school.

 

Many thanks for any help in advance!

[Koldov]

Hi,

 

We use iPads and Meraki MDM, unfortunately we don't use many of the features (hopefully others will have more knowledge)...

 

However, the first things to find out is what you mean by upload a movie, I thought it saved it to the device. Although I have read that to upload it needs plenty of space on the iPad itself...

 

Secondly, what do you mean by log in to the device? Have you set up some sort of shared device? Or do you mean see the device details in Meraki? How can you not log in to the device - what screens are you seeing?

 

Also, what settings do you have in Meraki (have you configured a profile with any restrictions)?

Edited October 22, 2021 by Koldov

[Janyo]

Hi Koldov,

 

Many thanks for your response.

I'm not sure if I explained myself properly, so I'll try again.

 

Our iPads are set up using Apple School Manager and then managed by Meraki MDM. Becuase they are managed by Meraki's System Manager, each iPad needs our staff to log in with their login details set up in the Apple School Manager.

When saving an iMovie video which is more than 2 mins long or more, it says there is not enough storage on it but I've checked that I have more than 14Gb on the device and 198Gb in the cloud.

 

Hope this sheds a little bit more light on the problem.

 

Many thanks for help.

[Koldov]

Sorry we don't use ASM or Meraki for that part (the iPads are in there but we don't manage anything in there such as classroom or having an individual log-on etc) thinking about it I do remember seeing that if it is a shared device then the iPad will carve up the storage for other users...

 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mdm/mdm71124b400/web#:~:text=If%20neither%20configuration%20is%20set,8GB%20for%20apps%20and%20media.

 

So is it actually saving the movie that is the problem or uploading it? The only other thing I can think of is the settings of the video in iMovie (high resolution)?

 

I know iPhones and iPads can eat up quite a bit when using the video, so it wouldn't take long to eat up those GBs:

 

Standard DV footage consumes about 3.6 MB of your hard drive per second. Therefore:

 

60 minutes = 13 GB

 

Source: (I think it might be an old webpage, but it was the first Google hit for the question)... https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/imovie-6/0596527268/ch04s03.html

 

I'm sure they are not taking 1hr long movies, but you get the idea!

Edited October 22, 2021 by Koldov

[DavR]

Are you using Apple Classroom or Shared iPad? That's the only application I can think of that requires you to log on to an iPad.

 

If that's the case, then each user that logs on to the device has a storage quota, often about 1-2GB. That would explain why you're get file size messages, even though the device isn't full.

 

I've not used Shared iPad myself, but I think you can change these limits. More info here.

[Janyo]

Thanks a lot. That looks like is the case as it's a shared ipad.

 

How do people manage small amount of ipads (8) without using apple school manager or meraki mdm?

[DavR]

We run two sets of 16 devices, we're using Meraki MDM for management, restrictions, etc. We only use ASM for the DEP and VPP side of things.

 

The devices are used as "standalones", if you like. IE, open access, any data that is saved, is saved to the device, or the student either copies it off, or remembers which iPad they were using for next time. It's not ideal, but when we last looked at Shared iPad, it didn't really work for us.

 

We're primary, and each set of 16 devices is shared between a number of year groups.

[Koldov]

There are those I'm sure that wouldn't even use an MDM for a small amount of iPads, but I think it offers many benefits.

 

Plenty of discussions on here as it's a topic that comes up fairly regularly...

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/cloud-services/222328-mdms.html

 

Are you using a free version of Meraki (do they even do that now?) we have a paid for version, but we 'manage' a fair amount of devices.

 

There are plenty of other offerings Jamf, Lightspeed, Mosyle, some even use Microsoft Intune... they all have pros and cons, some will like a particular MDM others will hate it (such is life)...

 

I have found Meraki to be OK but I've learnt as I go along with help from EDUGEEK and a fair amount of Google, plus the support documentation (https://documentation.meraki.com/SM/Systems_Manager_Quick_Start), we used to use Lightspeed very early on (but I didn't even know what I was doing then - not much better now) and it was a loooong time ago, so I can't comment.

 

EDIT: Same as @DaveAshworth above (ASM only for having a device in ASM really and the apps - DEP/ VPP) the devices are 'open' and the teacher has a list of who is on what device (30 devices per year group).

 

EDIT 2: If these are only teacher devices (presuming from the small amount) do you need them to log-on...?

Edited October 22, 2021 by Koldov

[Brimstone]

1. If you are using Apple's specfic "Shared iPad" configuration then you really need an iPad with a minimum of 32GB of storage, if you are configuring lots of users, this minimum storage increases as the configuration carves up the storage on the iPad for each user, data not stored on the iPad is saved to iCloud. Caching Server is a critical part of using shared iPad successfully. See below for more details.

 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mdm/mdm71124b400/web

 

2. If all you want to do is configure a "shared device" for all users to access e.g. No login with a Managed Apple ID then just using Apple Automated Enrolment Program (DEP) in ASM and an MDM will suffice. As you are using Google Drive in your OP then users can upload iMovie to a users share. Users need to rememeber to log out each time though and you will need fast broadband and WiFi.

 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/apple-school-manager/welcome/web

Edited October 22, 2021 by Brimstone

[Koldov]

Haha! How is your learning curve looking now? Vertical? I know mine was when the Headmaster first started getting that glazed *shiny shiny* glint in their eye...

 

Teachers and 'new' things always remind me of Gollum (the 'precious' part not the actual look - well maybe one or two of them do have a slight resemblance)... until they just dump it on your desk with a "get it working" note...

 

Can't help with the reason you can't seem to log-in to that one particular iPad though. Does it give you any 'helpful' messages as to the reason why?

[Janyo]

Yes, I feel dizzy ,but lucky, with so many responses. having read all of them, I feel like I want to release them all from ASM and have them managed by Meraki only as it will probably make thinks much easier for our staff (but not for me).

 

I wonder if anyone has done the same - released their ASM ipads and enrolling them with Meraki MDM only.

 

Thanks all for your valuable responses!

[garethEds]

We enroll using Apple Configurator 2, which links them them to Meraki and ASM. Seems to work. I'm sure there is a step we could bypass. Maybe the AC2 part of it?

 

GJE

[Koldov]

I think there is an extra step you don't necessarily need, which one it is depends on your workflow, AC might help stop a little manual handling (but not much as I guess you still need to plug them all in to a Mac) as I presume it puts your Wi-Fi config in? Does it do DEP and VPP?

 

We have AC on a Mac-Mini (bought specifically to manage iPads), but never really used it and don't at all anymore... From ASM (which deals with DEP and VPP) our iPads are connected to our MDM.

[garethEds]

I think there is an extra step you don't necessarily need, which one it is depends on your workflow, AC might help stop a little manual handling (but not much as I guess you still need to plug them all in to a Mac) as I presume it puts your Wi-Fi config in? Does it do DEP and VPP?

 

We have AC on a Mac-Mini (bought specifically to manage iPads), but never really used it and don't at all anymore... From ASM (which deals with DEP and VPP) our iPads are connected to our MDM.

 

Morning @Koldov - I'm sure it's the AC2 step we don't need but the whole process works at the moment so I don't think I will get rid of anything at the moment until I can sit down and work it all out. As for DEP and VPP - we use AC2 to prepare the iPads and put them into ASM which then controls the DEP/VPP - however I do send out apps with Meraki.

 

I only use the ASM bit to purchase apps,

 

Maybe I've got it all wrong - but it's working for us.

 

G

[DavR]

I prefer to still use AC2, it's not strictly necessary, but it does streamline the first run setup considerably. It also allows me to wipe and re-image devices very easily, I try to do ours each summer or they run out of space.

[Janyo]

Thanks people for all the responses. I thought I was getting my head around it but it looks like I'm getting confused again. As I'm an IT coordinator only (and not IT technician), would any of you be able to explain to me what would be the easiest way to deploy 8 ipads only for our teachers's use in their classrooms?

- The ipads are 32gb wifi only

- they need to be able to export iMovies to the cloud (Gdrive or other)

- We need to be able to deploy a minimum apps they would use

- we can have some control over the devices using Meraki as this if what we have free via LGfL

 

I know this must sound a bit confusing, but I'm someone who has never worked with any Apple devices, let alone deployed them for staff. Because of such a small amount of devices, I thought I would give it a shot myself to learn something new. It is becoming increasingly stressful and I wonder whether the easiest thing is just to have them all logged in to one school account...any thoughts?

 

Many thanks

[DavR]

Problem is, there are a thousand and one ways to achieve what you want to do at this point, and I think everyone here has their own take! For me, I would focus on getting everything in Meraki, and managing from there. For 8 devices, you can happily forget Apple Configurator, it's kinda deprecated anyway. Shared iPad configuration is not necessary if you're assigning these iPads to one person / classroom

 

For that, I would:

• Trash your Shared iPad / Classroom setup in Apple School Manager. You don't need classes, teacher user accounts, etc for the way you want to use them, in fact, as evidenced, it actually hinders you.
  
• Make sure you have Apple DEP (Device Enrolment Program) and VPP (Volume Purchase Program) set up in ASM and Meraki
  
• Factory reset the devices, and perform first runs again. If DEP is working correctly, this should enrol devices in Meraki for you.
  
• In Meraki, you can then set any restrictions you choose, and then deploy any apps that you buy through VPP
  

 

As for Apple IDs, I would advise against signing the devices into any Apple ID at all. If you're deploying your apps through Meraki, it's not needed. If you choose to let teachers install their own apps, that's up to you. I have one generic school Apple ID I use for this, but, if you're giving teachers greater autonomy, you may want to create one per staff member, or per class.

 

Disclaimer - this is just what I would do, and some of my info may be a bit rusty, as I haven't set up a school from scratch for a long time. But hope that's helpful.

[Face-Man]

I agree I've setup loads of ipads for teachers and just avoid shared ipad and any icloud/itunes account. All the apps are bought via vpp and pushed using meraki and the ipads are enrolled in DEP so that they don't get activation locked.

This way the teacher can use the full 32gb and they take responsibility to upload to google drive or office 365 depending on what the school uses (we even used dropbox before GDPR but thankfully that is no more). The advantage of doing it this way is you can tick the box in meraki to keep the app upto date and managed so everyone has the same apps and the same version of apps.

 

the 200gb of icloud space sounds nice from apple but I never really found a way that it can be more useful than other free storage.

 

this pdf seems to explain how to upload a movie to google drive

https://www.nausetschools.org/cms/lib/MA02212418/Centricity/Shared/Technology/Backing%20up%20iPad%20files/How%20to%20Upload%20iMovie%20Videos%20to%20Google%20Drive%20on%20iPad.pdf

[Face-Man]

PS using one school itunes account is in breach apples t and c. They would never find out or if they did do anything about it but is not really needed.

[Janyo]

Many thanks Face-Man. It all makes sense what you're saying but I wonder if there's any tutorial/documentation to show how to enrol ipads in meraki only once I've released them from Apple School Manager...not sure if it makes sense what I'm trying to say.

 

Really appreciate your help.

[Koldov]

I think it can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it, but there are a number of hoops to jump through and things to get right.

 

I'm not sure you need to 'release them' from ASM... in fact I'd advise not to. You need to release them from being 'shared' iPads.... I haven't used 'shared iPads' so can't explain how to get out of it (someone here will know). But as others have said, once that configuration is removed from ASM you may need to either just restart them or wipe them, I'm not entirely sure how to do it (in fact the little reading I did seemed to suggest it was quite difficult to get out of as the iPad is signed in to an Apple ID). The other option is to find the setting for maximum users and see if you can set it 1.

 

Reminds me of the 'good\bad' old days when we first got iPads and we used random gmail accounts to create apple Id's and use each one on 5 iPads to install apps...

 

Our iPads are in ASM - Apple School Manager (in effect DEP - Device Enrolment Program + VPP - Volume Purchase Program), these are added here by reseller number/order number.

 

We don't use Classroom or have any 'users' (the iPads are in effect 'open') they are not 'logged in'. For your scenario, you should ask yourself why you need them to be 'logged-in'... privacy, security, accountability...? You can set up a passcode for some of those things... especially if only one teacher will be using it.

 

ASM has the details of our MDM - Mobile Device Management (Meraki) so they can 'talk' to each other.

 

Meraki does all the heavy lifting for our devices, in here are networks (for each Year Group, Admin, Teachers) and in those are the iPads... apps are assigned to each network (provided by the VPP part of ASM) and profiles that contain restrictions.

 

So apart from containing DEP and the purchase of apps, ASM doesn't really do much else for us.

 

Meraki has the iPads and access to the apps and the restrictions, so all the 'work' is done in Meraki (just be aware Meraki is a whole 'thing' to manage in itself). You will need to go through all the restrictions and settings in there to create a profile, set up and remember the different certificates and renew them each year, make sure apps have the correct settings (device licences, remove with MDM) etc.

 

Just out of interest (as an IT tech) and although I applaud anyone for trying to learn something.... why have you taken on this 'project' without support? I didn't find the process very straight forward or intuitive at all (and still find some of the quirks annoying) with quite a few years of IT support under my belt...

 

I see you mention LGfL have given you the licenses, I'm sure they will have some support/advice to offer you.

[Janyo]

Hi Koldov,

 

A massive thank you for putting so much detail in your answer. At least I have some idea now as to where to begin.

And why did I embark on this process? As I said I do like learning new things but our technician, however great, is a non apple persona! I was fine with it as I thought about my learning curve. Now I do regret doing it all without a sufficient research. I only ad a chap from one of the educational resellers who pointed me in the right directions. I managed all the steps. The only problem being that our teachers aren't able to save longer imovie videos and that was it!

 

Once again many thanks for your help!

[Koldov]

Honestly I'm not a fan Apple either so I get that. Unfortunately us IT techs have to know a lot about all sorts of devices, platforms and operating systems and we can tend to gravitate to those which we know most about... we might not have the in depth knowledge of all of them unfortunately.

 

Without redoing all your hard work, it may be that you need to research more on the link @DaveAshworth posted:

 

 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mdm/mdm71124b400/web#:~:text=Devices%20with%20a%20storage%20capacity,as%20a%20minimum%20when%20necessary.

 

Try to find the MDM setting that limits the amount of users (hopefully to 1 or 2)...

 

There might be some information you can use here:

 

https://documentation.meraki.com/SM/Profiles_and_Settings/Configuring_Apple_School_Manager_for_Shared_iPad_or_1-to-1_iPad

 

But for use case scenario the general consensus from this thread is that you don't need to use shared iPad...

Edited October 28, 2021 by Koldov