How can I link Apple Business to Hexnode for Mac ADE without replacing the APNs certificate?Solved

Hello @elliot ,

You do not need to replace your current APNs certificate just to link Apple Business with Hexnode UEM.

APNs and Apple Business Manager serve different purposes:

• The APNs certificate is used for communication between Hexnode and already enrolled Apple devices.
• Apple Business integration is used for Automated Device Enrollment and Apple app/content deployment workflows.

If your current APNs certificate is valid, the recommended approach is to keep using it and renew it annually with the same Apple ID. This allows your existing enrolled devices to remain managed without interruption.

However, if you replace the current APNs certificate with a completely new one, the APNs topic changes. In that case, the existing devices will no longer recognize the MDM communication channel and would need to be re-enrolled.

To enable auto-enrollment for new Macs, you can link Apple Business to Hexnode UEM separately through Automated Device Enrollment without affecting the existing APNs certificate or the currently enrolled devices.

Regards,
Simon Scott
Hexnode UEM

Okayy got it. So we need to have new Mac purchases appear in Hexnode and enroll automatically. What are the basic steps to connect ABM for that?

To link Apple Business with Hexnode UEM for Automated Device Enrollment on macOS, use the following flow:

1. In the Hexnode UEM portal, go to Enroll > Platform-Specific > macOS > Apple Business/School Manager > Add ADE Account.
2. Create an ADE account entry and download the public certificate from Hexnode.
3. Sign in to Apple Business.
4. Go to Devices > Management Services and add a new MDM server.
5. Upload the public certificate downloaded from Hexnode.
6. Download the service token generated in Apple Business.
7. Return to Hexnode UEM and upload the service token to complete the connection.
8. In Apple Business, assign newly purchased Macs to the Hexnode MDM server.
9. In Hexnode UEM, sync with ADE so the assigned Macs are fetched into the portal.

Once this is configured, new Macs assigned to the Hexnode server in ABM can go through Automated Device Enrollment during setup. Existing manually enrolled devices can continue using the current APNs certificate as long as it is renewed correctly.