iPad profiles based on location / Network Segments

[ftiff]

Hi all,

Is is possible to trigger profiles based on location ?
The idea here would be to restrict iPads when students are within school boundaries.
iBeacon? SSID? Network Segment? Router itself?

If not possible from a technical standpoint, how do you deal with that ?

François

[Chriskmpruitt]

From my understanding you can do this. we are going to start testing this using iBeacons soon. I will let you know how that goes.

[kitzy · Accepted solution]

Hi @ftiff,

The easiest way to do this would be using a Limitation of a network segment in your scope.

If you haven't already, define a few network segments in Settings > Network Organization > Network Segments. Then, in the scope tab of your profile, set the Targets to the intended devices (All Devices or All Student Devices), and under Limitations, limit the scope to a specific network segment.

What will happen is when devices are on your network, the profile will be installed, but once they connect to a different network, the profile will be removed.

Hope that helps!
-Kitzy

[ftiff]

Ahhhhhh Thanks Kitzy ! Excellent.

But when is it applied? How does the JSS know when the device is in a subnet ? Isn't inventory supposed to happen only once a day ? I'm not sure I understand the internals.

[kitzy]

Hi @ftiff,

That's an excellent point. I double checked, and the only time the JSS will become aware of an iOS device's IP address is during an inventory update. That means this workflow probably wouldn't work as you want it to. I typically see the workflow I described used on the OS X side, which has an IP update on every check-in, which happens much more frequently.

You could try to enable these restrictions using iBeacons, but it won't be long before the students figure out that all they have to do is disable Bluetooth to get around it.

I guess the bigger question is what are you actually trying to restrict? Is this something that might be better handled by blocking certain traffic through your firewall, or possibly even through an acceptable use policy with clear expectations for what is expected and the consequences for not meeting those expectations?