Starting a Configuration Profile and Setting Its General Information

Now that you’ve made your plan and you have a rough idea of the payloads you can create, start a new configuration profile and set its General information–the profile’s name and identifier, your organization’s name, the description of the profile, and the type of security you want it to have.

To start the profile and set the General information, follow these steps:

  1. In the Library section of the Source list, click the Configuration Profiles item. iPhone Configuration Utility displays the list of configuration profiles. If you’re just getting started, this list will be empty.
  2. Click the New button on the toolbar or choose File > New Configuration Profile; you ca also press CTRL-N. iPhone Configuration Utility creates a new configuration profile and displays the controls for editing it.
  3. Make sure the General item is selected in the Payloads list.
  4. In the Name text box, type the name you want to us for the profile.
    1. i.            This is the name that appears in the Name list in the upper pane.
    2. ii.            You’ll probably want to us a naming convention for your profiles so that you can easily distinguish them.
  5. In the Identifier text box, type the unique identifier you want to use for the profile. This identifier appears in the Identifier list in the upper pane.
  6. In the Organization text box, type the name of your company or organization.
  7. In the Description text box, type a description of this profile to help you distinguish it from the other profiles you create.
    1. i.            The description is optional, but it’s useful to enter one even if you use a well-though-out naming convention.
    2. ii.            To make the description most helpful, summarize the settings that the configuration  profile applies to the device–for example, whether it uses a passcode, which categories of restrictions if applies, which wireless networks the Wi-Fi payload contains, and so on.
  8. In the Security drop-down list or pop-up menu, choose whether to let the user remove the profile from the iPad or iPhone. You have a choice of three settings:
    1. i.            Always. Choose the Always setting to allow the user to remove the profile without having to authenticate. Normally, you won’t want to use this setting for managed devices, but it’s useful in a campus-type environment in which the iPads and iPhones belong to the users rather than to the company or organization.
    2. ii.            Never. Choose the Never setting to prevent the user from removing the profile from the iPad or iPhone. The user can still update the device with a newer version of the profile that overwrites the existing version. You can remove the profile by connecting the device to the computer on which you’re running iPhone Configuration Utility and removing it.
    3. iii.            With Authentication. Choose the With Authentication setting to allow the user to remove the profile from the iPad and iPhone provided that they can furnish suitable authentication. Type the password in the Authorization Password text box that iPhone Configuration Utility displays. This setting is useful when you need users to be able to remove the profile after contacting you for the password, or when support techs need to remove the profile directly from the device rather than using iPhone Configuration Utility.

Until you set up a payload for an item, the words Not Configured appear under it; when you’ve created one or more payload, iPhone Configuration Utility shows the details under the item. If you need to remove a payload, click it in the Payloads pane, and then click the — (Remove) button in the upper-right corner of the configuration pane. You can’ remove the General payload from a configuration profile, as this payload is required.

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