iMangles

I haven't figured out the thumbnails yet either, still trying things here and there. Will update back here if I figure out a solution

Success! Problem is now (mostly) resolved. After adding the following URL's to the zscaler global whitelist, youtube.com, ytimg.com and googlevideo.com I tested Youtube and found it still did not work, or so I thought. After some additional testing, I discovered that SOME youtube videos would play, others would not. So I figured I was missing some other top level domain access. I just keyed in any youtube domain combination I could think of that might have been related. At first it did not appear to fix the issue, however after leaving for a week and returning, it appears to have taken effect and all Youtube videos appear to play. Here is the list I used (I know some of these are duplicates, I was adding these at different times) .googlevideo.com .googleapis.com .youtube.com .ytimg.com apis.google.com googlevideo.com i.ytimg.com m.youtube.com s.youtube.com youtu.be youtube.com ytimg.com I'm still not getting any video thumbnail previews, so I'm guessing there is some other URL that is still being blocked. I don't have an answer as to why Zscaler was only blocking Youtube videos on iPads setup in this particular fashion and not others. But everything is resolved well enough for people to continue using them now anyway Thanks for all the input everyone

OK, so some partial success I think! I had an iPad that did not work. I tried re-imaging it and a few things like that with no success. I didn't test it this morning, but I have to assume it was NOT working at that time. I put a global whitelist on youtube.com, ytimg.com and googlevideo.com I then tested youtube on that iPad and it didn't work. I then updated the iPad to the latest IOS, and youtube worked! Video thumbnails still wouldn't load in the app, but videos would play correctly. Youtube on Safari, the thumbnails DO load, but videos DO NOT I figured the issue was well enough resolved then, however, it appears the other iPads I tested continue to not work. I tried re-imaging one of them but still no go. I guess my next step is to figure out exactly what is different about 2 iPads where one works and the other doesn't. The 2 I am testing were both purchased at the same time and setup the same way with the same settings. Obviously I did something to iPad A when I was toying with it over the last couple weeks that has enabled it to work though. I have to guess that the extra whitelist entries in zscaler were a key step though, so thankyou for suggesting that one I will continue to investigate

Just to add a bit more info here Taking an affected iPad home and connecting to my own wifi, Youtube works correctly. Return to school wifi, Youtube does not work. Zscaler is our filter system, youtube is whitelisted for all users and devices. I went to youtube on a device that works, and one that does not and checked Zscaler logs. Its a little hard to filter out the noise and figure out exactly which device is which, so Ill need to test this on the weekend with no kids around to isolate each device. But, it appears that the policy action for each is showing as allowed, however I can see one device is a URL that looks correct, and the bytes used looks right. Another device is listed with an odd username and it is just hitting URLs that look like i9.ytimg.com:443 and www.youtube.com:443 Also it only ever uses around 300bytes for each of these hits. So I'm guessing this was the affected device Additionally, I have some iPads which are managed by Meraki, but are not DEP. These ones I have manually added to Meraki using AC2 manual config. These ones CAN still access Youtube fine. So the only devices affected are those that are specifically DEP listed in Apple School Manager If it is just setup with an appleid and unmanaged, works fine If it is manually added to meraki mdm management, works fine. If it is auto added to meraki by DEP, no dice Also, in the app I cannot see the thumbnails or the video If I access with safari, I can see the thumbnails, but not the video. If, in Safari, I load a video, it'll sometimes flash up the start of the video or preroll advertisement, then fall back to "An error occurred. Please try again later. (Playback ID: P2n0XPbNQocn8hO1)" If I then hit refresh (in safari), the video fills with the thumbnail and displays the play icon. Hit play and same this occurs, flashes up the start of the vid then errors out

Hrmm, now I actually haven't performed those exact troubleshooting steps to be honest. This gives me some great options to try to really nail down some factors. Thanks so much for the suggestions. I had taken a factory default iPad and installed Youtube with a different apple id, but have not tested with this new apple id as yet. This factory default iPad was also not DEP managed, whereas these new ones are. Neither have I tested simply removing the Meraki profile from the affected iPads and testing again. I will be testing on an outside network connection tonight too. I don't know why I hadn't thought to test this sooner! Thanks a lot. Will report back soon

Well I've now trawled through every page in Meraki searching for anything that might appear to be blocking youtube but can't find anything suspect. There are currently no active Security Policies in Meraki I'll hunt through all the Zscaler settings next. It's just strange that this only affects those iPads that are managed by Meraki, and so far only seems to be affecting youtube videos specifically, The only link these iPads would have to Google Admin is that I created the email there that is now acting as the apple ID. I don't think any kind of policies should be coming from there, but definitely will check all that too

We have Zscaler and that was my prime suspect, however I dismissed this because iPad that are not managed, but still hooked into the same network can access the videos fine. Maybe it is still related somehow though, Ill dig through all the settings on zscaler admin and see what I can find

Hi there Have a problem I can't seem to figure out here School environment with a bunch of ipads managed by Meraki mdm I have youtube auto pushed out to every one of these ipads. However, if I open Youtube on any of these ipads, no videos load. The app loads successfully, and I can see the correct search results etc. on screen, but the videos themselves are blank. If I select one, it loads the video with blank grey vid + error message "Something went wrong. Tap to retry" I have tried deleting the meraki pushed app and reinstalling from the app store using an apple id account. Same results. If I get a non managed iPad and install Youtube on this it works correctly, so it doesn't seem to be blocked by the school proxy. Both are connected to the same network, with the same proxy configurations and the same certificates installed. Only difference is one is managed by meraki, one is not. Here's a snippet from the console log. I couldn't quite tell which was the relevant section to grab, so I can paste more if this does not appear useful iPad YouTube(UIKit)[326] : -canOpenURL: failed for URL: "vnd.youtube.music://" - error: "The operation couldn\M-b\M^@\M^Yt be completed. (OSStatus error -10814.)"Aug 4 09:31:13 iPad YouTube(UIKit)[326] : -canOpenURL: failed for URL: "vnd.youtube.gaming://" - error: "The operation couldn\M-b\M^@\M^Yt be completed. (OSStatus error -10814.)"Aug 4 09:31:13 iPad YouTube(UIKit)[326] : -canOpenURL: failed for URL: "vnd.youtube.kids://" - error: "The operation couldn\M-b\M^@\M^Yt be completed. (OSStatus error -10814.)"Aug 4 09:31:13 iPad YouTube(UIKit)[326] : -canOpenURL: failed for URL: "vnd.youtube.tv://" - error: "The operation couldn\M-b\M^@\M^Yt be completed. (OSStatus error -10814.)"Aug 4 09:31:13 iPad mediaserverd(CoreMedia)[24] : -CMSessionMgr- cmsSetDiscoveryMode: CMSession: 'FigPlayer - 326' com.google.ios.youtube(pid = 326) requesting to set the discovery mode to DiscoveryMode_NoneAug 4 09:31:13 iPad mediaserverd(CoreMedia)[24] : -CMRoutingMgr- CMRoutingMgr_SetDiscoveryMode: CMSession: Session requesting to set the discovery mode to DiscoveryMode_NoneAug 4 09:31:13 iPad mediaserverd(CoreMedia)[24] : -CMRoutingMgr- CMRoutingMgr_SetDiscoveryMode: CMSession: NULL requesting to set the discovery mode to DiscoveryMode_NoneAug 4 09:31:13 iPad assertiond[59] : client HWM increased to 6 because of " (finishTask:180s); id:\M-b\M^@\M-&558F25143C28>Aug 4 09:31:13 iPad assertiond[59] : client HWM increased to 7 because of " (finishTask:180s); id:\M-b\M^@\M-&EBB447E65BB7>

Thanks for the info Brimstone. That is quite unfortunate. I was expecting that feature to be one of the main drawcards of switching to an MDM system. I am enrolled in Apple School Manager, however most of the ipads in the school were purchased a long time ago from unknown sources, so this does not help me in any way

We have been using Meraki to manage a stack of our iPads. Currently have around 150 in total so I'm currently testing whether we will stick with this service once we hit the free cap Is there a way to use Meraki (or any other MDM that can do this) to wipe any saved user data (camera roll, iMovie projects etc.)? Basically looking to clear the device at the end of the year, ready for the following year, without having to plug it back into configurator. Also, if it matters, these are not DEP enrolled devices.

Oh thanks so much biz, that really helps a lot. That clears everything up for me perfectly! Also, you were right, I totally just assigned settings to the first page only. Was having a bit of a hectic day!

OK, so I have made some progress, however I'm still unsure of a few things. I have the 52 iPads. I have them enrolled in DEP and the order has appeared in Apple School Manager. I have a Meraki Systems Manager account which I linked to Apple School Manager as the MDM. All 52 iPads appeared in Meraki under the DEP section. About half with an orange Assigned tag, and about half with a grey Empty tag, for some reason. Now the, questions: 1. Anyone know why some are Assigned and some are Empty in Meraki? Does this matter? 2. I only need to use Configurator if I want to push wifi settings, so I don't have to enter them manually? The DEP process should take care of any other setup as the device seeks out any MDM assigned to its serial number? 3. To volume purchase apps, I go to the Apple School Manager Content -> Buy Apps and Books section and follow that process? 4. I can create Managed Apple ID's with Apple School Manager with privileges to allow other people to also login to Apple School Manager and purchase apps? 5. Will the purchased apps appear in Meraki and I can choose which devices to assign them to? Like I can have 50 iPads assigned a Grade 1/2 tag and push apps to any device with that tag? 6. I tested preparing an iPad with Configurator, booted it up after the process and it asked for an Apple ID and password once it got to the home screen. Is this just asking for the Meraki login ID and password? Or is this an ID to purchase apps with? I think that covers it for now. Mostly just want to confirm I understand the process or if I'm missing something Thanks!

So assuming I am unable to enrol in DEP, it sounds like I am left with AC2 + MDM of choice? Thoughts on setting up a mac mini server with profile manager? Can this perform the same functions as Meraki?

If I use AC2 to setup, VPP to purchase software and Meraki as MDM, do I need to do anything with DEP?

OK right, I think I have some more reading to do to understand all of this correctly, but I'm getting there. So in Apple School Manager I can generally ignore the PEOPLE section if I want to and just use it for its DEVICES and CONTENT sections, to manage DEP devices and volume purchase software respectively? I think I'm not quite getting DEP as I have only just encountered it in the last week. I need to speak to whoever the school bought each particular iPad off to get the device enrolled in this? They were bought in bits and pieces over the last 5 years and then mixed together throughout the school. I don't know how this is going to be possible for the existing devices we have. It should be fine for the new devices incoming I suppose.

Teachers all use their own Apple ID and buy their own apps which is fine. I probably don't want to mess with that right now. With Apple School Manager, when I look at it, all I'm seeing is a way to create Managed Apple ID's that would be linked to each student. As far as I can tell, a student would pick up and iPad and pick their account and login with their ID. Is this not the case? Can I manage devices through Apple School Manager without using ID's? Also, If I setup an iPad with AC2 then push apps with an MDM like Meraki, I never need to login with an Apple ID right? However If I do login with an Apple ID a teacher could also still buy an app to try on the ipad as a once off thing, then If they want to push it to all iPads we do that through a VPP and MDM?

I know this comes up a lot but I'm having some trouble getting my head around it. This is a primary school with less than 100 iPad 2's throughout. Each classroom has 10-30 iPads shared between the students. No 1-1 iPads. Currently, all are just under 1 apple ID and teachers buy apps as they wish and I reset them every year / as required. This was fine when there were 20-30 iPads, but isn't so great anymore. So need to sort out a better management system, ideally one that is free at this stage. Teachers like being able to buy apps, but want them to sync automatically to all devices in their classroom. I want to be able to manage settings centrally and push updates/apps as required. The fact that teachers like to manage the apps themselves is the main reason I haven't moved to an MDM as it seemed like I would need to manage app distribution centrally using VPP and something like Meraki. Is this correct or is there a reasonably non technical way teachers could continue to manage this themselves? One classroom is soon to have around 40 iPads in it, so I need to figure out the best solution to manage this once that happens. I enrolled with Apple School Manager, but this appears to be suited to 1-1 iPads? I don't want students to have to login or do anything like that. Shared iPad is not compatible with iPad 2? Which, I think, leaves a AC2/Meraki combo. Does that sound right? Any prods in the right direction here would be greatly appreciated!

Sorry this has probably been asked a lot, but I haven't found an answer to my specific question yet. Setting up 6 sets of 10 iPads throughout a school. So each station of 10 has a charging/sync docking station and a Macbook Pro attached. I want to manage all of these iPad's globally in some fashion as well as allowing each 6 classrooms to sync any new free apps they desire. I have a VPP ID to manage purchasing apps. Have a meraki account setup to use for more global management, seems easy enough. Just not clear on the individual classroom management part. Does this make sense: Setup 6 apple id's for each Macbook Pro and install Apple Configurator. Setup configurator as to go to for getting staff to sync the apps they want. So I would have 6 different Configurator profiles, plus 1 global profile for basic settings and apps that will be used throughout the school. Then if I want to change settings globally or add a paid app etc. just do that with Meraki to make things easier. So my questions are: - Get teachers to sync apps using Configurator or iTunes? - Do I need 6 different Apple ID's for this arrangement? - Do I do the initial setup for all iPad's from 1 station before sending out to the 6 installed stations, or do 6 different setups at each individual station? Thanks very much for any help

Hi All, just wrote up a nice big reply, and somehow messed up posting it so its gone! Anyway, thanks for such a lot of fast replies everyone. Ill be looking into all your suggestions. In terms of redundancy, I think it best I include this in the cost somehow when I offer a solution to the school. Best they see a realistic cost of upgrade, than something going down and me taking the blame I think! Price is flexible, I'm currently in the mind of the higher end of 5-10k. I can always suggest siphoning some of the new laptop budget into doing the server upgrade right, if its a worthwhile upgrade. There is a bit of cash there if need be. Ill check out what scorptec has thanks seawolf. Ive used them for small stuff before. Do they have any service offering advice?? Do you guys think its a good idea to merge the admin and curriculum networks into a single system? The admin network services a couple PC's, but also contains all the financial software / email / class roll etc type of data. I just think it would be easier to manage all together. If I skip the virtualization of the current servers, I will need to purchase 100-150 new access licenses for 2012 right? That seems quite costly as well... Would it be worth waiting for 2012 r2? What kind of features would I be missing going with 2008 r2? I would worry if its reaching the end of its lifecycle and we had to do another upgrade in the near future. I could ask much more, but think I best investigate some prices and setups based on all your suggestions and see what I can come up with. Any more tips are more than welcome though! The server stuff isn't my strong point, but if I can come up with a reasonable upgrade plan I can sell the cost to the school

Hi there, new here, and hoping to get some input from people more knowledgeable than me! A primary school I work at is looking to update their aging server system, and tasked me in some preliminary investigation into what we could do with both hardware and software, and get some idea on cost. Ive done a little investigating so far so I will detail what Ive got. Currently we have separate curriculum and admin networks. 3 server machines, 1 for admin domain, 2 for curriculum for redundancy. these are all Acer/ Altos G330 Mk2's running Windows server 2003. There are maybe 100 systems connecting to this, a mix of laptops and desktops with anything from XP through to windows 8. There are also 30 iPads. The school is also looking at getting maybe 50 new laptops, or a mix of laptops/desktops and some more iPads. Now the school is not very big, and has a limited ICT budget of course, but will be flexible if I come up with a plan that they are sold on. I don't see us buying 3 brand new pieces of hardware to replace the 3 aging server systems, and think it would be best to combine these into a single network. There are only around 4 machines that actually use the admin network. It has been suggested that I could buy a single beefy machine with plenty of upgrade potential. Install server 2012. Copy over and run both current 2003 domains in VM's temporarily. Mash the ram and HDD space etc of the 3 old systems and use as redundancy backup. This would allow me to setup and test the new system on the side with minimal pain, and cut over without changing to much of the existing system (Its only me there at the moment, and for a few hours a week only). This would have the system running faster and more stable with updated hardware to begin with. then as the school can afford it, buy the CALs necessary to eventually cut over to a completely server 2012 system. Does this sound reasonable? The only issue I can see, is the hardware needed to support this being quite expensive. I have been quoted so far a HP ProLiant DL385 G8P, 3x1TB HDDs. Server 2012 with 5 CALS for around 9k AUD. I guess I am looking to find out, does this upgrade path sound sensible? Is the system quoted overkill? Is it likely I could do any reasonable upgrade for around 5k AUD (I know most of you are from UK so I think thats closer to 3k GBP)? This is simply so I have a basis for selling this idea to the school. Lastly, is there any hardware you guys would recommend that I could checkout and seek quotes for? Thanks a lot for anyone who reads this! Any help would be great