iPad Support and Management Best Practices

I too work in IT at a K-12 school district I thought I’d share with you where we are at so far. Currently we have about 3000 iPads, but only about 1500 are managed in Casper’s JSS. We’ve been through many deployment changes and practices and have yet found solid ground. So basically our procedures seem to change every day, depending on new software releases from Apple and the folks at JAMF. Here’s where we are at currently.

All iPads are “imaged” with a default district backup and engraved (we bought our own engraver) by our IT department prior to being sent to a site. This backup we apply includes default backgrounds, a WiFi setting, a couple of Apps a couple of In House Web Clips and the JSS Self Service App (which we have renamed to SJUSD App Store and put our district logo on). We recommend to all sites that they buy a Macbook Pro (Provisional Node) for the sole use to manage their site iPads if they have purchased 10 or more. We have 3 imaging stations using 3 MacBooks identically setup with all the needed iPad software each connected to 49 port hubs purchased from Datamation Systems Inc http://www.ipadcarts.com/solutions/DS-IP-SC-49.htm we tried using Carts but pulling the iPads in and out of the cart slots and dealing with the connection cables became way too cumbersome for the sole purpose of just setting these iPads up for the sites.

Currently the JSS Self Service serves a couple of purposes. We have a bunch of recommended (from teachers) free apps listed available for download by the site once it’s delivered if the site chooses to do so based on the curriculum they need. We also deploy site VPP codes to specific groups or teachers, via the self service. If the site does not have a provisional node, student and teacher apps purchased with VPP codes are deployed via self service. If the site has a provisional node student apps are deployed via Apple Configurator, teacher apps are still deployed through the self service.

I have created a specific default image for provisional nodes. So if a site purchases a provisional node with their order of 10 or more iPads we apply that image to the MacBook Pro. The image includes specific tools for iPad and iPod management such as, Apple Configurator, iPhone Configuration Utility, xCode. I also include our default iPad backup file and the JSS enrolment profiles in this image should the site need to reimage an iPad or if our IT staff needs to visit the site they have the needed tools to work with.

So if the site orders the provisional node with the iPads, we use it to setup their iPads prior to being sent to the site. We use a default “supervised” image and install all VPP purchased apps onto each iPad. This way they are ready to go, once the site gets them. If the site does not purchase a provisional node they iPads are imaged unsupervised prior to being sent to site.

We manage all provisional nodes with ARD and try to assist the sites remotely when new apps are purchased or an iPad needs to be re-imaged. The biggest trouble here is not many sites have a tech related person available to do this full time and the ones that do typically get laid off, burnt out or shifted around to other sites so this is not a reliable method.

There are so many scenarios for our IT staff to setup iPads depending on the situation a different procedure has to be followed and it a mess. I actually listed them out, it may not be easy for you to understand or follow but I have attached it to this email for you to look at.

We still need to setup a backup policy in Casper so that the provisional nodes and Apple Configurator database specifically are backed up automatically to a central location. This is important because if a provisional node crashes, you will lose the purchased apps and the VPP codes. Apparently there is no way to recover this info when using Apple Configurator.

I’m sure you’ll have plenty of questions, so I’ll stop here and let you absorb some of this. Believe me there’s still plenty to cover.

Feel free to ask any questions you might have, I’ll be glad to help.

Chuck Taylor
San Juan Unified School District
Carmichael, Ca.

Wow thanks for all the detailed information Chuck!! It'll take a few more cups of coffee this morning for me to absorb all of this info :) I'm sure I'll have some more questions soon and appreciate your willingness to help.

We have Backuppc set up in our district to do daily backups on all of our staff computers. Eventually when we do our iPad deployment, for student carts we plan to have the provisioning node (a MacBook Pro on top of a Bretford cart or other cart) with Apple Configurator and IPCU that we will manage with ARD from here (I.T. department). We will have Backuppc run daily backups of these provisioning nodes so that if it ever has a problem we won't lose the purchased apps and VPP codes on the provisioning node.

Any other K12 folks out there have insights or scenarios that can share on iOS support and management? Thanks in advance!!

~Joe

I'm in a similar boat with 1000 iPads on their way to be setup for September... Just count your blessings that you live in the US and have VPP. I'm in Canada and don't even have that. I have no freakin clue how I'm going to setup 1000 iPads, but those higher up than me didn't seem interested in my advice to wait for VPP, so gonna have to figure something out. Really hating Apple these days though.

Ouch! That's gonna be expensive without VPPs. Looks like Apple is planning to expand to Canada (and Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, and UK) but it just says "Coming soon" http://www.apple.com/education/volume-purchase-program/. Hopefully when they do, they will have ironed out some of the issues that they've experienced with the US VPP.

September 5, 2012:

The Volume Purchase Program is available in the following countries:
Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain,
United Kingdom, and United States.

http://www.apple.com/business/vpp/