Automatically enroll devices in DMA

You must enroll Apple devices in Device Management for Apple DMA before you can send Configuration Profiles and commands to the devices directly from N-central's DMA Dashboard.

Devices can be automatically enrolled in Device Management for Apple if your customer has an Apple Business Manager (ABM) account, and the devices are new purchases or existing devices that are wiped. You can also manually enroll devices with end user approval.

Before you enroll devices in Mac Device Management, ensure the Requirements for Device Management for Appleare completed.

Apple School Manager functions the same as Apple Business Manager when interacting with N-central. You can use the tasks in this section for Apple School Manager.

To automatically enroll customer macOS devices or iOS devices in Device Management for Apple:

  1. Ensure the customer has an Apple Business Manager account.
  2. Sign in to the N-central dashboard with a user role that includes the Apple Business Manager permission.
  3. Add an ABM token in N-central Device Management for Apple for the customer.

Benefits of using automatic enrollment

If your customer has an Apple Business Manager (ABM) account, the following benefits are possible when you help them configure their ABM account to use N-central Device Management for Apple as their MDM server:

  • New device purchases made by the customer are assigned to the customer's ABM account (existing devices can be wiped and also assigned to the ABM account).
  • When new devices power on and activate with Apple, the devices automatically enroll in N-central Device Management for Apple and display on the Dashboard. For an example, see Example: Automatic device enrollment using ABM.
  • If the new device is a macOS device, the latest Mac Agent installs on it and the device registers with N-central.

    In some instances, the Mac Agent install can take up to 20 minutes to install on the device.

  • All the configuration profiles, which enable N-central to work without prompting the end user for permission, install on the device.
  • End users cannot unenroll the device.

When to use automatic enrollment?

You determine for each customer whether to enroll their macOS and iOS devices manually or automatically in Device Management for Apple. We recommend automatic enrollment in the following situations:

  • The customer already has an Apple Business Manager account.
  • Most, or all, of the customer Apple devices are new.
  • When a device is company owned and you must prevent the end user from unenrolling it from management.

What do you want to do?