How to use Apple MacOS Server to manage your Alfresco mobile apps

[Jatherton]

Part 1: Installing Mac OS Server
Purchase MacOS Server from the Mac App Store for £19.99 (UK) and perform a fresh install.

Once you have selected open you will be asked to ‘Choose a Mac’. Select ‘This Mac’ and then continue. Agree with the terms and authenticate when prompted.

Once the setup has run and completed you will be presented with the server interface.

Now MacOS Server will now be installed.

For a detailed video tutorial of how to do this go here:

Credit: Todd Olthoff

Part 2: Setting up Profile Manager
You will notice the various deployment programmes available in the Profile Manager screen. What these do is allow you to buy apple devices and have access to certain services based on your deployment strategy. This means you can buy devices from Apple with your profile pre-installed.

To start Profile Manager, drag the switch to the ON position. Once you reach this screen, hit next.

You’ll then need to fill in your name and email address and hit next.

Next you will be asked to provide a certificate, this should be pre-configured with MacOS Server so select the certificates list and select your local certificate option and hit next (the warning does not matter for the case of this blog post).

You will then be asked to provide your Apple ID and password to setup push notifications so provide those details and go to the next step which is to complete the setup process.

You might asked if you want to change how your password is stored, select ‘change’ if this happens.

You will now see that the service is ON and available on your local network.

Now we need to sign the certificate profiles, select the Sign configuration profiles checkbox and select your local certificate. This will now sign your profiles. Notice you can now open your devices and profile manager in your default browser at the bottom of the screen.

Part 2: Enrolling Devices with Profile Manager
In profile manager, you will see where your service is available. Mine is mac-server.local/mydevices or mac-server.local/profilemanager.

You will need to connect an Apple device to your local network (I am using a USB cable to my Mac) and then browse to http://your-domain/mydevices. You will then need to sign in with your credentials (Apple ID).

Once you have authenticated you then be presented with the following screen, select the profiles tab. And then tap on the install options to install the certificate on your device.

If you are not using Safari it might not work so make sure you are for this step. After you have allowed the certificate to be installed you will have to go into settings on your device and follow the instructions to complete the installation of the certificate.

Once you have installed the first profile go back to the Devices tab and select Enroll. You will now have to install another profile which is the remote management which contains 2 certificates you can see in the details.

Once the enrollment steps have been completed you see that the device now has the option to be remotely locked, clear the passcode or even be wiped.

For a detailed video tutorial of how to do this go here:

Credit: Todd Olthoff

Part 4: Configuring Profile Manager with Alfresco
Detailed video overview of Profile manager here:

Credit: Todd Olthoff

We now want to add the Alfresco mobile apps to our profile so that they can be managed by the administrator.

Note: if you get stuck in a loop trying to login to Profile Manager and always end up being routed to Device Manager, make sure your user is an Admin in the Users section of MacOS Server.

In the Profile manager you will need to be on the Apps tab and you will need to select Add Enterprise App. Navigate to your ipa files and upload them to Profile Manager. (You can obtain the Alfresco ipa files through the support portal - LINK)

Once you have added your enterprise apps to Profile Manager you will see a list like below (I have added the Alfresco Content App and Alfresco Process App to my Profile Manger).

Okay, so we have our enterprise apps ready to go in Profile Manager. We could install these to each device but that would be cumbersome so let’s create a group for our devices.

Navigate to the groups tab and select add device group.

I am going to call my group Alfresco Devices so that I can manage all the devices I want to have Alfresco apps in one place.

Add your apps to the group by selecting the Apps tab and the + icon at the bottom, then select your apps by checking the tick boxes and select OK.

Add the devices by selecting the Members tab and select the devices you want in your group.

Now select Done and then Save in the bottom right corner of the screen to save the group.

To push these apps to the devices in the group, there is a settings cog on the bottom bar to the right of the + icon, select that and choose the Push Apps option and select all of the apps you want to push. Voila, check your devices!

Once pushed you will then select install when prompted on your device and the apps will begin installing.