iPads in Education - Which Version of Meraki Systems Manager am I Using??
If you have used Meraki as the MDM to manage your iPads for the past several years, you - like me - have moved through the transition of being told it would "always be free" to them implementing a paid model but maintaining a legacy version of the Systems Manager for those of certain criteria. (If that sentence was confusing, you didn't experience the joys of the transition I would guess...)
So, how can you tell which version of the Meraki Systems Manager you are using? How can you tell if you can update for free? What does updating - if you are able to - do for you?
First of all let's review the possible situations you are currently in:
If you fall under case #1 you are on the up-to-date version of Systems Manager (and have access to telephone support). This is what you will see for the license information:
Note the following: it says Enabled (paid), it lists how many licenses you purchased and used, and at the bottom it lists your license information.
If you fall under case #2 you are using the Legacy version of Systems Manager (and only have access to email support). This is what you will see for the license information:
Note the following: it says Legacy, there is no button for upgrading as it would take you out of compliance. You would have to purchase a license to upgrade.
If you fall under case #3 you may be under either version of the Systems Manager. If you are on the Legacy version you will see this for the license information:
Note the following: it says Legacy with an Upgrade button next to it (my example is an approximation - I upgraded before thinking to take a screenshot...).
If you are on the updated Systems Manager you will see this for the license information:
Note the following: it says Enabled (free to 100 devices), it lists your 100 device limit and how many devices you currently are managing.
Why might you want to upgrade if you are using the Legacy version and are able to? You get the updated features available to you - the biggest place I have noted this is the availability of the new restrictions that Apple will allow on managed devices - compare below:
Some of these features are admittedly nice to have.
So, how can you tell which version of the Meraki Systems Manager you are using? How can you tell if you can update for free? What does updating - if you are able to - do for you?
First of all let's review the possible situations you are currently in:
- You have over 100 devices on Meraki and you have paid for a license
- You have over 100 devices on Meraki and you have never paid for a license
- You have fewer than 100 devices on Meraki
If you fall under case #1 you are on the up-to-date version of Systems Manager (and have access to telephone support). This is what you will see for the license information:
Note the following: it says Enabled (paid), it lists how many licenses you purchased and used, and at the bottom it lists your license information.
If you fall under case #2 you are using the Legacy version of Systems Manager (and only have access to email support). This is what you will see for the license information:
Note the following: it says Legacy, there is no button for upgrading as it would take you out of compliance. You would have to purchase a license to upgrade.
If you fall under case #3 you may be under either version of the Systems Manager. If you are on the Legacy version you will see this for the license information:
If you are on the updated Systems Manager you will see this for the license information:
Note the following: it says Enabled (free to 100 devices), it lists your 100 device limit and how many devices you currently are managing.
Why might you want to upgrade if you are using the Legacy version and are able to? You get the updated features available to you - the biggest place I have noted this is the availability of the new restrictions that Apple will allow on managed devices - compare below:
Legacy SM Restrictions list |
New SM Restrictions list |
Some of these features are admittedly nice to have.