Apple Silicon, new Macs and the brand new Vision Pro had been the {hardware} stars at this week’s WWDC 2023, however IT professionals ought to know what’s new to make their lives simpler and assist them handle gadgets extra successfully. Here’s a quick survey of the vital adjustments recognized to this point.But first, take into account this. With quickly the advancing use of its merchandise throughout the enterprise, Cupertino understands the largest considerations for mass Apple machine deployments, resembling administration, administration, and safety.With that in thoughts, it is no shock to seek out at WWDC the corporate is following its market. Even the introduction of MDM for Apple Watch displays a pattern throughout some companies to make use of these gadgets in attention-grabbing new methods, resembling how that is carried out at Volvo.Managed Apple IDsThese turn into extra versatile this yr with updates to Continuity, Apple Wallet, and iCloud Keychain. Administrators additionally achieve extra management to encourage customers to signal into the apps and providers they want. Managed Apple IDs will also be utilized in extra conditions, resembling when enrolling a tool with the intention to maintain private and work knowledge separated.Federated IdentityApple School Manager (ASM) and Apple Business Manager (ABM) already assist federated identification programs resembling Okta, Azure, OAuth, and Workspace. This yr, OpenID Connect assist is added to the combo, which is able to make life quite a bit simpler for firms looking for to coalesce a number of platforms round one identification authorization service.iCloud Keychain Another helpful enchancment in Managed IDs is the addition of iCloud Keychain assist. This lets IT deploy passcodes and passkeys mechanically to managed gadgets and needs to be a great step ahead towards a password-free enterprise. This builds on the flexibility, additionally introduced at WWDC 2023, for teams of customers so as to add and edit passwords and passkeys, so everybody within the group can maintain updated. Declarative machine administrationApple put lots of work into Declarative machine administration this yr. Improvements it mentioned on the present embody new methods to deploy apps, certificates, and on macOS even handle frequent service configuration information.Software Update In a transfer that will probably be welcomed in lots of quarters, IT directors can now implement software program updates to particular deadlines with improved consumer transparency. Another enchancment means directors can use MDM to handle and set up a number of variations of an software on Macs.Automated Device Enrolment on MacsMany organizations wish to guarantee sure safety configurations are in place even earlier than the Mac is enrolled and the consumer logs in for the primary time. They might want FileVault enabled and for the Mac to be working a particular OS model. Apple at WWDC introduced the next enhancements:macOS 14 permits MDM to require FileVault enablement throughout Setup Assistant. The restoration key can then be shared with the top consumer throughout setup or managed by the MDM system.MDM can require the machine to be on a particular working system model with the intention to enroll, which suggests a consumer can’t entry firm providers till they replace. This works utilizing JSON to tell MDM of the OS a tool is working. If a brand new model is required, the consumer will probably be guided by way of the replace course of. Making positive Macs get enrolled At current, when a consumer makes an attempt to arrange a Mac that isn’t linked to a community, the MDM enrollment is skipped and the consumer is requested to enroll the machine. (That’s as a result of setup depends partly on JSON calls to the authorization and MDM servers.)Apple has modified this. First, the Setup Assistant occupies the entire display and offers customers a alternative when establishing the Mac: Enroll the Mac instantly, or “Not Now,” which supplies an eight-hour reprieve earlier than being required to take action.This helps guarantee Macs are enrolled in MDM and that knowledge doesn’t too simply stray outdoors the managed machine perimeter.User authentication and Single Sign-On (SSO)macOS Ventura made it doable for customers to authenticate as soon as with an account from the group’s Identity Provider and get entry to all their accredited providers. macOS Sonoma extends this with helpful instruments to allow you to restore or reauthenticate registration and/or on-demand creation of a neighborhood account during which the consumer indicators in with their identification credential or SmartCard to create/authenticate an account. Password and System Preferences administrationApple has made a number of adjustments right here. One of those entails stronger Password Compliance administration, which suggests weak passwords will probably be flagged, and continued use of a weak password will see the consumer knowledgeable and suggested to alter it. Another change sees new restrictions in place to forestall customers of managed gadgets from modifying Apple ID Logins and Internet Accounts or including native consumer accounts.Managed Device AttestationApple launched Managed Device Attestation for iOS in 2022. The concept is that after the system is put in place, it helps guarantee solely reputable gadgets can entry enterprise assets. That safety is now additionally obtainable on Macs. Apple has additionally prolonged the system, so it displays extra system parts (resembling machine ID or OS model), which provides extra layers of safety for programs protected by Managed Device Attestation.Return to ServiceMany firms and colleges see a comparatively fast turnover of machine use. An iPad could move by way of a number of customers in a month or week. While deletion of previous knowledge from the machine is comparatively straightforward, arrange needed to be carried out manually. Return to Service automates a few of these steps, so the machine will not be solely erased, but in addition reset, enrolled into MDM, and linked to Wi-Fi so it’s prepared for fast use as soon as the subsequent particular person grabs it.5G community slicing and personal networksA rising variety of enterprises are adopting personal 5G and LTE networks. These assist the type of service ranges and latency next-generation enterprise applied sciences require, or to offer community connectivity throughout bigger areas than Wi-Fi helps.iPads already supported personal LTE and 5G networks, together with with MDM-based eSIM deployment. That capability is now coming to iPhones, as is assist for personal standalone 5G networks. Apple’s assist is kind of important, as the corporate has additionally found out easy methods to make use of such networks extra energy environment friendly; SIM-based assist is barely enabled when wanted, due to geolocation. Apple additionally launched 5G community slicing assist, which is an up-and-coming tech designed to effectively handle the rising calls for of linked providers and gadgets.RelaysApple has additionally launched a brand new approach to ship safe entry to enterprise community assets: relays. Natively supported on Apple gadgets, these are safe proxies the corporate says present a greater consumer expertise and are simpler to handle than conventional VPN providers. They will also be configured utilizing MDM.Apple ConfiguratorApple Configurator for iPhone is a software extensively utilized by IT so as to add gadgets to ASM or ABM. The change is that customers can now assign their very own machine to an MDM server from inside Configurator. They get three decisions: Don’t assign; assign to default MDM server; or assign to a specific MDM server belonging to the corporate. When a consumer indicators in with their Managed Apple ID, they are going to be offered with a listing of the MDM servers obtainable for them and their machine.Shortcuts involves ITApple has constructed a batch of Shortcuts for Apple Configurator. These embody shortcuts to replace, restore, erase, and put together iPhones and iPads. At WWDC, Apple demonstrated one use of those during which a collection of shortcuts had been used to setup and provision an iPad. Apple is urging MDM builders to combine with these Shortcuts, so it appears fairly clear it intends automating as a lot of the setup and administration course of as it could actually.Please observe me on Mastodon, or be part of me within the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions teams on MeWe.
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