Can't install configuration profile on iPad - "The profile ... could not be installed"

Question

I'm trying to create a simple test MDM server.

I'm using a Windows Server 2008 R2, and an iPad (iOS 5.01).

I set up a python based web server to accept requests in port 8080, installed an APNs certificate and created a configuration profile using IPCU with an MDM payload (and a VERISIGN credentials paylod to match it).

I have ports open to on the server (443, 1640, 2195 and 8080 where my server is listening).

I sent the configuration profile to myself, via email and tried installing it on my iPad.

I got the response: " Profile Failed to Install

The profile "MDM test profile" could not be installed. "

Does anyone know what could be the problem here? What am I missing?

I have tried installing on an iPhone as well, same problem.

Thanks

Answer 1

Have you tried looking at the iPad's console logs? Hook it up and launch the iPhone Configuration Utility, and look at the log viewer there. If you don't see anything useful, then try re-installing the profile from IPCU and check for new responses. Generally, you'll find the problem pretty easily that way.

It's possible that you're using an older version of IPCU that allows non-SSL MDM URLs -- that is, it used to be possible to enroll in MDM using an HTTP-only link back to the server. This changed in iOS 5.x, and now the device has to connect to the MDM over SSL. (obviously, you'll also need to ensure that the server's SSL cert is available on the device -- the easiest way to do this is to set up a local CA cert via the KeyChain utility, sign your test server's cert with that, and install the CA cert to the device via IPCU).

If all this doesn't work, paste in the relevant log bits from the console and we'll see if we can't figure it out. :)

david.