There are a number of ways to troubleshoot network connections on (or using) an iOS device. These can be common troubleshooting steps that you might run from the command line or a third party app on a desktop computer or they could be specific to testing the network environment for an iOS device. Some of these apps are even free. Ping Lite One of the most common tasks that most administrators routinely do to test both DNS resolution and connectivity is pinging something. Ping Lite comes with a function to show your IP, a ping tool, a tool to ping the subnet, the ability to run trace routes and for…
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iPhone Field Test Mode
iPhone can open a Field Test app. When in Field Test Mode, the device provides a lot of information not otherwise shown. For example, the IP address (no, not the one for Wi-Fi) can be located, neighboring cells can be shown, etc. To open the Field Test app, tap *3001#12345#* and then tap the Call button.
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Finding iOS Device PINs
Each time you sync an iOS based device, a backup is made (unless you disable the option). These are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup. Here you will find a number of folders, each beginning with the UDID of the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch that has been backed up. The contents of these folders can be used to restore a device in the event that the device falls outside your control. Within the folders are a bunch of files with alphanumeric names that look garbled, even though some can be viewed using a standard text or property list editor (while others are binary). But there are also a bunch of other…
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iPhone, NFC & A Few Hundred Billion Dollars
Many of us now use our phone to check our email more often than we use our computer. Our phones go everywhere with us (although please hang up when you’re in the can as few things are more disgusting than listening to someone talk to their mom when they’re droppin’ the kids off at the pool in the stall next to you or hearing someone you’re talking to dropping’ a deuce in the pooper on the other end of the line). Many no longer have land lines and some have even dumped desktop and laptop computers in favor of smart-phone or tablet based digital lives. Few skipped the computer altogether…
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Securing iOS Based Devices Paper
The CIRCL (Computer Incident Response Center Luxembourg) has cited my Enterprise iOS book in a paper title Security of iOS Based Devices. It’s only a few pages so a pretty quick read. But what is interesting about it is that in the second edition of the book I’ve already started to replace the Applications chapter (which I wasn’t really happy with in the first place) with a chapter on securing the devices. These days, with a two year old around, I’ve been thinking about adding something on physical security, but I think that might just be superfluous (and ever changing)… Also, in preparation for 2nd edition, I would like to…
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iPhone Life Article
An excerpt-turned-article of mine just appeared in iPhone Life Magazine. IT’s called The Inevitability of the iPhone in the Enterprise: http://www.iphonelife.com/issues/2011March-April/InevitabilityIPhoneEnterprise Hope you enjoy!
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Law Firms and iPads
Josh Barrett, of tabletlegal.com posted a mini-review of my latest book, the Enterprise iPhone and iPad Administrator’s Guide. It’s an interesting look at iPads making their way into law firms despite the often reluctant IT admins who have to support them. Big thanks to Josh for a favorable review!
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iPad + Box.net = Win
Box.net is a cloud-based file sharing service that I used extensively in my last book. Similar to dropbox.com, Box.net allowed my publishers and I to automate our workflow with regard to the publishing process, but more importantly, I was actually able to do much of the review and exchange of files from the iPad, which was really nice given that the book was on iOS. I’ve been working with a few companies over the past few weeks on coming up with various strategies for cloud interoperability, and Box.net has come up a few times in this regard. Looks like I’m not the only one!
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Automating iPhone & iPad Deployment
The iPhone Configuration Utility is used to “image” iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The reason I quoted image was because you aren’t laying bits down as you would in a traditional imaging scenario. Instead, you are sending a profile and possibly some applications to the device. This is done through a configuration profile, which is a property list, prefixed with a .mobileconfig extension. The iPhone Configuration Utility stores its data in the ~/Library/MobileDevice directory. Here, you will find two directories: Devices – Contains the Device data for each device that has been docked to the iPhone Configuration Utility. Configuration Profiles – Contains the profiles that you will assign to devices…
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Managing Active Directory from iPhone
AD HelpDesk is a tool that can be used to manage certain aspects of Active Directory user accounts. Using AD HelpDesk, you can configure an iOS based device to connect to Active Directory using an administrative account (or an account that has been delegated administrative access). Using the tool, you can then find a user. Using the user pane, you can unlock accounts, reset their passwords, force the resetting of the password on the next authentication event and optionally send a user their new password via SMS (a really cool little feature, IMO). There are a lot of useful ways to fit this tool into your service desk or network…