I’ve written a number of articles on automating MDM enrollments using Apple Configurator in the past. In Apple Configurator 2, there are some new options that make the process much easier than it’s ever been in the past. To get started, let’s open Apple Configurator 2 and click on a Blueprint we’d like to apply to devices being prepared during a mass iPad or iPhone enrollment through Apple Configurator. Control-click on the Blueprint to set up for automated enrollment and click on the Prepare button.
At the Organization screen, select the organization you’d like to enroll your device in and click on the Next button.
At the Server screen, select to enroll in an MDM server.
At the Define an MDM Server screen, type the name of a server and click Next.
The server is then located and provided the Apple Configurator 2 system can communicate with the server, you’ll get a choice of the MDM service to enroll into. Select the certificate and click Next.
At the Supervise Devices screen, select whether you’d like to supervise devices enrolled using Apple Configurator 2. Click Next.
At the Configure iOS Setup Assistant screen, choose whether to skip some screens during the initial configuration of the device and click on Prepare.
Now, during the preparation in Apple Configurator, you’ll be able to enroll iOS devices into Profile Manager (or another MDM) en masse.
Additionally, the traditional method of enrollment (Configurator 1) still works. Here, you’d download a trust profile, done using the name in the upper right corner of the Profile Manager interface and then choosing Download Trust Profile.
You’ll also need the Enrollment Profile, accessed using the plus sign (+) in the lower left corner of the screen and choosing Enrollment Profile.
The two are then added to the Profiles of a blueprint in Apple Configurator 2. You can also use the Settings for a device group to set placeholders for devices so they’re automatically assigned to a group during mass enrollments like this.
Overall the options in Apple Configurator 2 with Profile Manager or another MDM are way easier to use than in previous versions. I think a lot of new administrators will be able to easily get used to this workflow. Enjoy!