Creating, Renewing, or Deleting an Apple Push Certificate

Jamf School requires a valid push certificate to communicate with Apple Push Notification service (APNs). This communication is required to do the following:

  • Send macOS profiles and macOS quick action commands to computers.

  • Distribute Mac App Store apps to computers.

  • Enroll and manage iOS devices.

You must have a push certificate in Jamf School to manage devices with Jamf School. Devices enrolled prior to May 2, 2017 are managed by a push certificate in Jamf School. To check if your devices are managed by Jamf School, navigate to Organization > Settings > Apple Push Notification Service. If the Push Topic is “com.apple.mgmt.XServer.01ab0995-0663-4e2d-a001-25e9ef3eaf9e”, the devices are currently managed by Jamf School. You must create your own certificate for future enrollments. If a new certificate is created, enrolled mobile devices will not be able to receive MDM commands unless they are re-enrolled. Apple requires the Apple Push Notification service (APNs) certificate to be renewed every year.

Important: If the original Apple push certificate expires or is deleted, you must manually re-enroll all managed devices.

Creating an Apple Push Certificate

Requirements

To create a push certificate, you need a valid Apple ID (a corporate Apple ID is recommended). To create a corporate Apple ID, navigate to: https://appleid.apple.com

Note: Apple recommends that you use one corporate Apple ID for push certificates and a separate one for Apple School Manager.

Procedure

  1. In Jamf School, do one of the following:

    • If you are creating a push certificate in Setup Assistant, navigate to the Apple Push Certificate step in the Setup Assistant. The certificate signing request (.csr) downloads automatically.

    • If you already created a push certificate in the Setup Assistant and you want to create a new one, navigate to Organization > Settings > Apple Push Notification Service > Create own Certificate. In the pop-up dialog, click "Download Certificate Signing Request". The certificate signing request (.csr) will download.

  2. In a new window or tab, navigate to the Apple Push Certificates Portal: https://identity.apple.com/pushcert

  3. Log in to the portal with your Apple ID.

  4. Click Create a Certificate.

  5. Upload the certificate signing request you downloaded from Jamf School.

  6. Click Upload, and then click Download. The Apple push certificate (.pem) will download.

  7. Return to the Jamf School tab in your browser. In the pop-up dialog, upload the Apple push certificate and enter your Apple ID username in the Apple ID field.

  8. Do one of the following:

    • If you are creating a push certificate in Setup Assistant, click Next.

    • If you already created a push certificate in the Setup Assistant and you want to create a new one, click Apply.

Renewing an Apple Push Certificate

Requirements

If you are renewing a push certificate that was originally obtained from Apple’s iOS Developer Program (iDEP), you must use the Apple ID for the iDEP Agent account used to obtain the certificate.

Note: Apple recommends that you use one corporate Apple ID for push certificates and a separate one for Apple School Manager.

Procedure

  1. In Jamf School, navigate to Organization > Settings in the sidebar.

  2. Click the Apple Push Notification Service payload.

  3. Click Renew Push Certificate.

  4. On the pop-up dialog, click Download Certificate Signing Request.
    The certificate signing request (.csr) downloads.

  5. In a new window or tab, navigate to the Apple Push Certificates Portal: https://identity.apple.com/pushcert

  6. Log in to the portal with your Apple ID.

  7. Click Renew next to the current Jamf School certificate.

  8. Upload the certificate signing request you downloaded from Jamf School.

  9. Click Upload, and then click Download. The Apple push certificate (.pem) will download.

  10. Return to the Jamf School tab in your browser. In the pop-up dialog, upload the Apple push certificate and enter your Apple ID username in the Apple ID field.

  11. Click Apply.

Deleting an Apple Push Certificate

  1. In Jamf School, navigate to Organization > Settings in the sidebar.

  2. Click the Apple Push Notification Service payload.

  3. Click Delete Push Certificate.

  4. Click Delete.

Copyright     Privacy Policy     Terms of Use     Security
© copyright 2002-2021 Jamf. All rights reserved.