iPads - just. Seeking a walk through on set up

[speckytecky]

The Management decided we needed some iPads and they have just landed on my desk. We are a Windows 2008 Standard Domain with a mix of XP Pro and windows 7 Clients with 7 Apple Macs which with much help and guidance from the good folk of Edugeek I have working on the Domain. iPads are a brand new thing to me though so I'm looking for a bit of guidance on best practice for setting them up and using them with our Domain.

[GrumbleDook]

I would suggest you also go and have a chat with a local ASE as they can help a heck of a lot, put you in touch with other schools using them so the school gets the educational benefits. Have a look at some of my recent blog posts from when I went to the Apple Leadership Event in Birmingham (must remember to get part 2 put up as an article).

[Little-Miss]

I'm having great fun *ahem* at the moment asking my LA nicely to see if they can allow me to use https sites...

 

I know it means opening ports etc, but its a tad annoying when they are trying to push us to use these things and we cant use them properly for things like google docs etc...

[Tricky_Dicky]

I'm having great fun *ahem* at the moment asking my LA nicely to see if they can allow me to use https sites...

 

I know it means opening ports etc, but its a tad annoying when they are trying to push us to use these things and we cant use them properly for things like google docs etc...

Does Google Docs work on the iPads now? I didn't think it did, something to do with a strange version of Safari. I'd love to be able to use Pages and then just save to Google Docs/Live@Edu.

[FN-GM]

An iPad is not a mac so it should be in this board - Netbooks, PDA and Phones

[Little-Miss]

Yeesh....

 

No, i got that https error still, dont even get that far! if i try to load docs.google.com i get There was a problem communicating with the secure web proxy server (HTTPS) blah blah blah...

[Michael]

Yeesh....

 

No, i got that https error still, dont even get that far! if i try to load docs.google.com i get There was a problem communicating with the secure web proxy server (HTTPS) blah blah blah...

 

There's two things you need to do. Put in a network change request with Link2ICT, but also on the iPad, I think you need to enable the proxy server twice for both normal and secure traffic.

 

There's something on the Cisco gateway they need to enable (I can't for the life remember what it's called). Without this any secure traffic will fail.

[speckytecky]

Cripes - just shows how in the woods I am on these things - I never spotted that thread. I'm very happy for this to be moved there.

 

An iPad is not a mac so it should be in this board - Netbooks, PDA and Phones

[speckytecky]

Thanks Michael. I presume this would be something needed for SWGfL as well?

 

There's two things you need to do. Put in a network change request with Link2ICT, but also on the iPad, I think you need to enable the proxy server twice for both normal and secure traffic.

 

There's something on the Cisco gateway they need to enable (I can't for the life remember what it's called). Without this any secure traffic will fail.

[FN-GM]

Cripes - just shows how in the woods I am on these things - I never spotted that thread. I'm very happy for this to be moved there.

 

Sorry to go on about it, just makes it easier when you looking for things at a later date

[Jamo]

Yeesh....

 

No, i got that https error still, dont even get that far! if i try to load docs.google.com i get There was a problem communicating with the secure web proxy server (HTTPS) blah blah blah...

 

Are you running the iPads through a Guest wireless, a firewall or a transparent proxy?

[AngryITGuy]

The Management decided we needed some iPads and they have just landed on my desk. We are a Windows 2008 Standard Domain with a mix of XP Pro and windows 7 Clients with 7 Apple Macs which with much help and guidance from the good folk of Edugeek I have working on the Domain. iPads are a brand new thing to me though so I'm looking for a bit of guidance on best practice for setting them up and using them with our Domain.

 

Are they for staff or student use?

 

A good place to start would be with the iPhone Configuration Utility as this allows you to lock down the devices as well as push out settings for Exchange, WiFi, proxy and device restrictions etc it what I used to config settings on our iPads.

[Michael]

Thanks Michael. I presume this would be something needed for SWGfL as well?

 

Possibly, if you have some form of LA managed firewall I would probably say yes.

 

Edit: From memory, it's some form of Cisco certificate protocol which needs enabling. I think the iPad retrieves a secure certificate from Apple's servers. The iPads themselves do not host the certificates.

Edited November 16, 2011 by Michael

[Little-Miss]

Are you running the iPads through a Guest wireless, a firewall or a transparent proxy?

 

Erm, guest wireless (via our managed Ruckus) squid servers, LA Stuff.... not up on the types of proxy but dont think ours is transparent.

[Little-Miss]

Possibly, if you have some form of LA managed firewall I would probably say yes.

 

Edit: From memory, it's some form of Cisco certificate protocol which needs enabling. I think the iPad retrieves a secure certificate from Apple's servers. The iPads themselves do not host the certificates.

 

Yeah its ocspd or something like that, i've requested it but will put the change requests in too..

[Little-Miss]

Michael what do you mean by setting the proxy twice?

[Michael]

In the equivalent Internet Options on a Mac or iPad, you can specify a proxy server for http and https. I 'think' you set it the same for both as normal. Of course with Windows, you only specify proxy settings in one area.

[Jamo]

By default squid cant proxy https requests (well it can but the HTTPS sites will deny access due to a man in the middle attack!!)

 

You need to open the 443 ports on the firewall (usually guest networks have a firewall defined in the settings) and allow that traffic to flow through as it normally would to the upstream proxies (which are usually more able to handle the https traffic).

 

I recently had this on a Smoothwall Express box bridging a LAN and our network, without allowing 443 directly through the firewall and into the upstream proxy all HTTPs sites just said that they didn't exist!

[Little-Miss]

In the equivalent Internet Options on a Mac or iPad, you can specify a proxy server for http and https. I 'think' you set it the same for both as normal. Of course with Windows, you only specify proxy settings in one area.

 

Hmm. Know how to set the normal proxy. Not sure about the https though...

[speckytecky]

That's Student use. As we are an EBD school that puzzled me straight off!!

 

Are they for staff or student use?

 

A good place to start would be with the iPhone Configuration Utility as this allows you to lock down the devices as well as push out settings for Exchange, WiFi, proxy and device restrictions etc it what I used to config settings on our iPads.

[Little-Miss]

This is my own iPad, can I use this without locking down

N?

[Little-Miss]

 

has anyone got an ipad working succesfully behind their LA firewall/Proxy etc...

[Jamo]

Yeah https and all

 

Check your firewall settings and allow 443 traffic through, try connecting your iPad to the standard wireless rather than the guest and see if it works

[Little-Miss]

we use certificates and stuff. I noticed there are some certificate settings in that config program, maybe i do it that way?

[Tricky_Dicky]

Hmm. Know how to set the normal proxy. Not sure about the https though...

There isn't a seperate section on the iPhone for handling https. You set the normal http one and hope it works, which unfortunately does not work inside the BGFL.

 

This is my own iPad, can I use this without locking down ?

Yes you can. The iPhone configuration utility is only used for configuring multiple iOS devices that need specific policies setting for it. It can set many things, such as WiFi, passcode policies and allowing or denying access to certain applications. A very useful piece of kit for deploying on mass, however I think MDM is much better.

 

In the equivalent Internet Options on a Mac or iPad, you can specify a proxy server for http and https. I 'think' you set it the same for both as normal. Of course with Windows, you only specify proxy settings in one area.

Not true, you only set the proxy in one place.

 

I'm hoping that the new proxy system that Link2ICT are implementing will be more flexible for exactly this reason, however how long it is going to take to implement is hard to say. The best I can recommend is to get on to them and see what this weeks official response is.

 

Rich