Apple’s Volume Purchase Program allows you to export a VPP token and then import that token into a server to create a connection between an MDM solution (e.g. Bushel, Apple’s Profile Manager, Casper, etc) and apps you purchase through the VPP portal. But what’s in a token? The VPP token is a base64 encoded file. You can cat the file and it will show you a bunch of garbly-gook (technical term):
base64 --decode /Users/charlesedge/Desktop/kryptedcom.vpptoken
But there’s more to it than all that. We can run the base64 command to see:
base64 --decode /Users/charlesedge/Desktop/kryptedcom.vpptoken
In some cases, this file can display improperly, if it fails use the following command:
echo `cat /Users/charlesedge/Desktop/kryptedcom.vpptoken` | base64 --decode
The contents of the file are then displayed, as follows:
{"token”:”AbCDe1f2gh3DImSB1DhbLTWviabcgz3y7wkDLbnVA2AIrj9gc1h11vViMDJ11qoF6Jhqzncw5hW3cV8z1/Yk7A==","expDate":"2015-07-03T08:30:47-0700","orgName”:”Krypted.com"}
This is a comma separated set of keys, including token, expedite and orgName. Do not edit any of this or you may spontaneously combust. The token establishes the trust but the expiration date will show you when a vpptoken expires and will need to be renewed by. The orgName is what you entered in the VPP portal when you setup the account and is also escaped and then used as the file name. These two pieces of data can help you if you have a bunch of vpptokens that you need to keep track of.