To use the built-in Mobile Device Management (MDM) protocol of devices running Apple iOS 4 (or higher), Sophos Mobile Control must use Apple’s Push Notification service (APNs) to trigger the iOS devices. This article describes how to create such a APNs certificate.
Known to apply to the following Sophos product(s) and version(s)
Sophos Mobile Control 2.5.0
Sophos Mobile Control as a Service
Sophos Mobile Control 3.0
What To Do
To create and upload an APNs certificate:
- Start the APNs Certificate Wizard by doubleclicking the file APNs Certificate Wizard.exe.
The .exe file is available here. The APNs Certificate Wizard welcome dialog is shown. - The Create CSR dialog is shown.
- Enter your Company Name and your Country code (for example US). These fields are mandatory.
Note: Below these fields, the dialog shows where all data of the process is stored. Make a note of this information. - Click Next. The Upload PLIST dialog is displayed.
- In this step, you upload the Certificate Signing Request to Apple. Follow the instructions in
the dialog: - Open the Apple site indicated in the dialog in your browser by clicking the displayed link or copying and pasting the link.
NOTE: Do not use Internet Explorer to open the Apple site as this may cause problems. Use Firefox, Chrome or Safari instead.We recommend to use the current browser versions. - Log in with your Apple ID. If you do not have an Apple ID, create one.
- In the first dialog of the Apple Push Certificates Portal, click Create a Certificate
- Accept the terms and conditions.
- Browse for your Certificate Signing Request (*.plist) and click Upload.
You find the file name and the path in the Upload PLIST dialog of the Sophos APNs Certificate Wizard.
Your Apple push certificate is created. - Save the certificate file (*.pem) in the directory indicated in the Upload PLIST dialog.
NOTE: Please DO NOT rename the *.pem file.
- Click Next. The Create P12 dialog is displayed.
- In this step, you create your APNs certificate for Sophos Mobile Control. Enter a password for the APNs certificate.
You need this password later, when you upload the .P12 certificate file to Sophos Mobile Control.
Note: The Create P12 dialog shows the directory the certificate will be stored in. Make a note of this information.
We recommend that you create a backup of the folder that contains the certificate files. - Click Next. The Sophos Mobile Control APNs Certificate Wizard finished dialog is displayed.
- Click Finish.
- In the Sophos Mobile Control web console, click the Settings button and go to the iOS APNS tab.
- Browse for the .p12 certificate file you have created, enter your password and click Upload.
After the file has been uploaded successfully, a confirmation message is displayed. - Click Save.
Now, your APNs certificate is ready for use and iOS devices will communicate via APNs.