AppleTV enrollment to JSS

[cgordy]

I just watched the iOS 7 webinar from JAMF and the AppleTV stuff peeked my interest.
The only problem I have - is using Configurator...let me explain why I am fearful...

Three years ago when we began our iOS deployment and our Casper 8.1 relationship, under guidance of my Apple Engineer, we used IPCU to enroll our devices via USB...hundreds of iPads..

A year or so later when we moved to Casper 8.43, it seemed devices needed to update their local MDM profile as the JSS was updated...the tab in Self Service even allowed users to update and we encouraged it because we knew no better (may still not lol).

What happened on our 700+ devices was the IPCU enrollment messed us up - when trying to do a task, and forgive me but I simply cannot remember what that task was, the device told me to get bent - said my configuration profile was not unique because we used IPCU to enroll it...which meant I have to re-enroll, via OTA URL 700+ devices.

From that moment on, I stopped using non-Casper management methods and things have worked excellent on my end.

We have a huge deployment of AppleTVs coming .
We knew management was going to be an issue and we have some meetings coming up to help figure it all out.
However, I was unaware we could enroll them into the JSS - not sure if this is something new in 9.x versions of Casper or what..but I am pretty interested.

The webinar stated a USB connection to enroll while using Configurator.
Assuming that is the only method of getting an enrollment profile onto the device, has anyone done this and if so, what were any Pro's and Con's to your deployment?

[damienbarrett]

I have only been able to get an configuration profile on an AppleTV using Configurator and USB. I haven't tried the new "bump your iOS 7 device to the AppleTV" set up thing yet, but I believe that only gets you past the initial setup options anyway and doesn't give you the ability to set the things we really need to set like which channels can show, restrictions, and Airplay passcodes.

Apple really needs to give us a management framework for managing AppleTV deployments. I have 75+ of these (one in every classroom) and every time Apple turns on a new channel, I have to manually visit every room to hide the channel. If the AppleTV options could be controlled by a configuration profile (like iPads and other iOS devices), then I could enroll them in an MDM and push out a new configuration profile to each device every time Apple turned on a bit on their backend to show a new channel.

I know the AppleTV is just a "hobby" but we're using it quite successfully in our classrooms to Airplay our 1:1 laptops and iPads. The dynamic nature of allowing a student to be able to display their device's screen on the projector without having to connect to a cable (right from their seat) is an amazing teaching tool. Students don't have to "come to the front of the classroom" to show their work. Apple needs to come to one of our classrooms and see how we're using these and get that feedback to their engineers post-haste.

We're going to continue to manually manage these devices, even though it's a pain in the rear. I'm currently trying to get to enroll into my test Casper 9.1 box but haven't been able to get back to that task.

[kevin_ramos]

i have managed to enroll 30 apple TV's with a wireless profile. I still have alot more that Im gonna need to deploy at different schools and since Apple doesnt have a way for us to create profiles with restrictions, I to am gonna have to touch each device and setup the restrictions.

[mtiffany]

I realize this is an old post, but given that it's been some time... is anyone successfully managing their AppleTV's? I can enroll them without problem. What to do from there, I'm at a loss. I can't find a way to restrict or block new channels from popping up or only display the channels we want. I also can't seem to find a way to force them into conference room mode from JSS. So I'm really wondering, have I just enrolled them for inventory purposes only?? Because I can't really do anything else with my JSS on an AppleTV at this point.

[JesseNCSD]

It seems like all you get is inventory and the ability to add the units as AirPlay targets. (And you still have to manually enter the password in the JSS inventory record.)