Released Devcies

Bill_Hofius
New Contributor III

Hello!

I am wondering how Released Devices in Apple Business Manager relate to managed devices in JAMF.

I suppose my first question is: Are devices automatically released in ABM when they are replaced through Apple? Or do devices need to be manually released? Relatedly, are devices permanently listed in ABM or is it possible to remove released devices from ABM?

My next question is: Once a device has been released in ABM, is it automatically removed from from the list of managed devices in JAMF or does this need to be done manually? If it needs to be done manually, what are best practices for removing devices from JAMF?

I suppose my last question is: How important is it to remove devices no longer in use from JAMF?

EDIT:

I cross referencing serial numbers of released devices in ABM with JAMF. Some released devices are not showing up in JAMF, some show up as unmanaged and have zero profiles installed, and others are showing up as managed with profiles. Hmmmm...

Thanks!

2 REPLIES 2

Chris_Hafner
Valued Contributor II

I'm interested in the backend of this. As a rule, though, I release devices from ABM or in my case, ASM, then remove them manually from the JAMF pro service.

PaulHazelden
Valued Contributor

In ABM/ASM You can remove devices, that will do what it says, totally remove them from your ABM. For some devices this is a terminal procedure, you can't put them back in.
You can unassign them from a MDM server, and they will no longer be forced into getting the MDM profiles if they are erased. But, they are still listed as being in your ABM/ASM and Apple thinks they are yours, even if you have sold them. They cant be added to any other ABM/ASM accounts whilst you still hold them. Most companies that repair the Macs will ask you to unassign them prior to sending them to them, it gives them access if they have to erase the drive.
Or finally they are assigned to a MDM server, where they will get automatically assigned a MDM profile via the Apple servers and then your MDM server.
If they are still in JAMF at the time you will get the varying reports as to their status.
If you dispose of them and they are still assigned in ABM/ASM then when the new owner erases them they will get your MDM profile assigned to them. So you should at a minimum unassign them. I tend to unassign, until I get the certificate reporting the secure erasing of the devices, then I remove them.
I have always had to go into our ABM/ASM account and release or remove manually, apart from one iPad that was so broken they replaced it. That one I had to unassign before I sent it to them, And they managed to remove it from there and put the new iPad into our ABM/ASM which then auto assigned it to our MDM.