Ipad Deployment - Server Choice & Information

[Darylrese]

We tried Meraki without any luck, our local council blocked the connection and it just went nowhere. MAC seems the way forward, MAC Mini server cost us about £600 which is much cheaper than an imac. Will let you know when the monitor arrives and we have it setup and running. Edited February 6, 2013 by Darylrese

[jdell]

Be aware you will need some of the ports opening to get the Mac server to work as the whole iOS system uses the same non standard ports to get the verification files through.

 

Which County Council are you under we had massive problems with Oxfordshire so we dumped them and moved to BT with a self managed firewall.

 

We tried Meraki without any luck, our local council blocked the connection and it just went nowhere. MAC seems the way forward, MAC Mini server cost us about £600 which is much cheaper than an imac. Will let you know when the monitor arrives and we have it setup and running.

[Darylrese]

We are under our local county council and it will be a battle to get things changed but we will push for it to happen once we know which ports need to be opened. Any ideas which ones need opening?

 

I suggested in the summer to go over to our own firewall and internet filter when we had our new network installed but the boss'es didn't want to change!

Edited February 6, 2013 by Darylrese

[jdell]

Ports TCP 5223 need to be open inbound and outbound to/from Your Apple Server and 17.0.0.0/8 addresses (with a RIPE IP)

TCP 2195 and 2196 outbound from Your Apple Server to gateway.push.apple.com (17.0.0.0/8)

. TCP1640 open inbound from draft-ietf-ipsec-cdp-01 - Certificate Discovery Protocol (77.72.230.30) & 17.0.0.0/8 to Your Apple Server (using the RIPE IP)

TCP 80 and 443 open inbound and outbound from/to Your Apple Server and 17.0.0.0/8 (using the RIPE IP)

[Darylrese]

Thank-you very much mate, ill forward your post onto the council and see what they come back with

[Darylrese]

We have the MAC Mini, a volume license and apple configurator. Profiles have gone onto an ipad ok, but we are having trouble working out how to add apps in the correct manor.

 

We download them in itunes store, no worries but it asks for an apple ID that isnt the facilitator or designated owner of the VPP. Do we create a new itunes account just for use for downloading apps on the MAC Server?

 

When purchasing apps on our volume license do we then need to use one of the codes for the itunes account on the MACServer to get the app into apple configurator then import the rest of the codes in a spreadsheet to deploy through configurator?

Edited February 27, 2013 by Darylrese

[Darylrese]

My school are not happy to put a credit card on file for the volume license after doing all this, you cant use itunes gift cards to purchase apps through the volume license agreement so what do we do now? haha Edited February 27, 2013 by Darylrese

[truebluesteve]

My school are not happy to put a credit card on file for the volume license after doing all this, you cant use itunes gift cards to purchase apps through the volume license agreement so what do we do now? haha

 

Try and persuade your Bursar or whoever to add the credit card and make it so only they know the password. Our bursar had some reservations but she trusts me and its worked fine with the apps we have bought so far.

[Darylrese]

I have given them an account to logon and buy apps from the Education Store themselves and they seem happier about the idea. Fingers crossed!!

[Darylrese]

Ok so we msanaged to sort it but now they have come back to us and said they need ibooks.

 

1) I cant find books on the VPP program in the UK, only in the US

 

2) You can't allocate them out through Apple Configurator

 

:(

[j224]

Ok so we msanaged to sort it but now they have come back to us and said they need ibooks.

 

1) I cant find books on the VPP program in the UK, only in the US

 

2) You can't allocate them out through Apple Configurator

 

:(

 

 

Yeah, I've recently discovered the same thing! I contacted Apple directly and they simply said- no it's not supported yet. I googled it and I've only found one possible workaround which involves downloading the free ebooks in iTunes, locating them in the folder, uploading them to a website, using the iPad to navigate to that website and open the ebooks with Safari and then it gives you the option to open in iBooks. I've not tried it yet myself.

[Darylrese]

This is such a pain!!! Thank-you for confirming this.

 

I was starting to think Apple wasn't too bad to work with once we got apps working on a mass scale but i'm back to square one looking into doing something i was avoiding in the first place.

 

Could we create 1 itunes account and download the books onto each ipad using that ID? Obviously only for free books at the moment and at the moment we only have 16 ipads that need them so its not as bad as it could be yet.

[j224]

This is such a pain!!! Thank-you for confirming this.

 

I was starting to think Apple wasn't too bad to work with once we got apps working on a mass scale but i'm back to square one looking into doing something i was avoiding in the first place.

 

Could we create 1 itunes account and download the books onto each ipad using that ID? Obviously only for free books at the moment and at the moment we only have 16 ipads that need them so its not as bad as it could be yet.

 

We also have 16 iPads and I've used Configurator to set them up with 1 iTunes account. I removed the profile which had the restriction for blocking access to the app store and installing apps, but I still wasn't able to download any books from the iBook store on the iPad.

 

I can get into the bookstore and search for a free book. I then hit download and it prompts for the password so I enter that and then it says "Cannot connect to iTunes". I don't know what's wrong with it. The internet is working fine on it and all the other apps.

[Darylrese]

We also have 16 iPads and I've used Configurator to set them up with 1 iTunes account. I removed the profile which had the restriction for blocking access to the app store and installing apps, but I still wasn't able to download any books from the iBook store on the iPad.

 

I can get into the bookstore and search for a free book. I then hit download and it prompts for the password so I enter that and then it says "Cannot connect to iTunes". I don't know what's wrong with it. The internet is working fine on it and all the other apps.

 

We have managed to find a work around! As we had the google drive app installed on the iPads and we use it in the school, we downloaded the free iBook on the mac, dropped it into google drive, logged into google drive on the iPads and opened the iBook file up, it then asks what you want to open it with, select iBooks and it imports it in

 

Means doing it one by one but it works and with only 16 currently it's manageable for now until the VPP iBooks are sorted!

 

Also means no fiddling around with iTunes or iTunes accounts on the iPads!

Edited March 1, 2013 by Darylrese

[j224]

We have managed to find a work around! As we had the google drive app installed on the iPads and we use it in the school, we downloaded the free iBook on the mac, dropped it into google drive, logged into google drive on the iPads and opened the iBook file up, it then asks what you want to open it with, select iBooks and it imports it in

 

Means doing it one by one but it works and with only 16 currently it's manageable for now until the VPP iBooks are sorted!

 

Also means no fiddling around with iTunes or iTunes accounts on the iPads!

 

Cool. That's pretty much what I suggested in post #36 above, except you used Google Drive instead of 'a website'. You mentioned you're using Apple Configurator? What happens if you setup all of the ebooks you want on one iPad, then connect to Configurator to create a backup of it, then connect the other iPads and restore the backup to them? It should copy the books to all of them like it does with the apps/folder settings. Will save you a lot of time if it works!

[truebluesteve]

I think this all goes to prove that despite what Apple says, it really isn't geared for education - not yet anyway. Unfortunately our leaders don't appreciate all of this when they suddenly decide iPads et al are a wonderful idea and we should have them immediately!

[Darylrese]

Cool. That's pretty much what I suggested in post #36 above, except you used Google Drive instead of 'a website'. You mentioned you're using Apple Configurator? What happens if you setup all of the ebooks you want on one iPad, then connect to Configurator to create a backup of it, then connect the other iPads and restore the backup to them? It should copy the books to all of them like it does with the apps/folder settings. Will save you a lot of time if it works!

 

Good Point. That could work but apple configurator has already used codes for paid apps we if we were to re image them from a backup, would that screw things up?

 

I agree, although its half way there, its not good enough for educational use yet.

[j224]

Good Point. That could work but apple configurator has already used codes for paid apps we if we were to re image them from a backup, would that screw things up?

 

I agree, although its half way there, its not good enough for educational use yet.

 

No, it shouldn't screw things up. This is how I manage my 16 iPads. I always update one 'master' iPad first whenever I install a new app. I then disconnect it and move the app to the folder I want it to be in. Then I reconnect it and create a backup.

 

I then connect all of the others and restore that backup to them. I have paid apps and it assigns the codes without a problem.

[Darylrese]

Excellent. So if codes have already been used, when the backup is applied to the others will it reasign them? Does it work in the same way as preparing but with a backed up image?

[j224]

Excellent. So if codes have already been used, when the backup is applied to the others will it reasign them? Does it work in the same way as preparing but with a backed up image?

 

The easiest way is to create 2 groups within Configurator. In the Supervise section, there's a panel on the left where you can add or remove groups. What I've done is create a group called 'Master iPad' and dragged 'iPad 01' into it. You might have named yours differently. I then created a second group called 'Pupil iPads' and I dragged the rest into there. This helps to keep it tidy in my brain :-)

 

Now when I want to add a new app, I'll connect iPad 01 and click on the Master iPad group. I then go to the panel on the right to assign the profiles, create/restore backups, and assign which apps to put on that device, remembering to hit 'Apply' at the bottom. It then goes through the process, showing the little 'pie chart' icon.

 

I then disconnect the iPad (although I guess you could leave it plugged in if the lead is long enough), move the new app into the correct folder. Reconnect and go to the right panel and click the drop-down next to 'Restore' and select 'Backup'. Give it a name and then wait for it to backup then disconnect.

 

Go to the Pupil iPads group, make sure to tick the new app (because it's a different group, you can install different apps to the master iPad, the backup won't do it for you). Then select the backup you just created from the drop-down menu and click 'Apply' at the bottom. Connect all remaining iPads and it'll go through the process. Even though the backup doesn't automatically install the apps, it holds the information needed to move the app to the correct folder so you won't have to do it for every single iPad.

 

Configurator recognises which device has been plugged in so it knows which code it has assigned to that device. It doesn't matter if you restore a different backup because the codes are not held within the backup data.

 

Hope that makes sense.

Edited March 4, 2013 by j224

[Darylrese]

Many thanks, will give it a go when we have the list of ibooks required and let you know how we got on.

[Darylrese]

OK now its been suggested to use Kindle App and Kindle books in the same way, might be easier as it syncs to all devices that have the same account but i don't know if there are any complications with this!

[j224]

OK now its been suggested to use Kindle App and Kindle books in the same way, might be easier as it syncs to all devices that have the same account but i don't know if there are any complications with this!

 

Not tried myself. I don't see why it shouldn't work if all of your iPads use the same account. I guess free Kindle books are fine but paid ones would be against the licensing rules as they are meant to be individual devices really.

[Darylrese]

Yeah, thats always going to be the problem, there is no easy solution and terms & Conditions for both apple and amazon seem quite sketchy on this issue

[j224]

Damn it. I uploaded a few ebooks to Google Drive, installed it on the iPad and then used 'Open With' to to view the books in iBooks.

 

I then created a backup of that iPad with Apple Configurator and restored it to the other iPads. I opened iBooks and there were all of the books, although they didn't show the covers like they did on the 'master' iPad. A few seconds later, all of the books disappeared!

 

I'm guessing the profile that Configurator automatically installs when a device becomes 'Supervised' is preventing the books from installing on multiple iPads. I can still read the books on the 'master' one. Maybe I'd have to manually go to each iPad, sign into Google Drive and open each book in iBooks. Trouble is, next time I install an app, create a backup of one iPad and then restore to the others, it will probably wipe the books off again...perhaps.

 

Like you say, Kindle books might be more straight forward!