Appendix B: External MDM integration

If you want to benefit from the strong Mobile Device Management and Mobile Application Management (MDM/MAM) capabilities of an external provider, DME gives you an option to integrate with SOTI MobiControl. SOTI has been in the MDM/MAM business since 1995, and has grown to become a market leader.

The effect of the DME integration with external MDM can briefly be described in the following way:

• When a device is enrolled with MobiControl, it is given a unique device ID - the MobiControl ID.
• When DME is installed on the device through MobiControl, and the first connection to DME is made, the MobiControl ID is passed along to DME and stored. DME will then check the MobiControl server to verify that the device is known to MobiControl.

  If the device is not known in MobiControl, access to DME is blocked.

  If the device is known in MobiControl, a new device is created in DME with a DME device ID.

• Every time the device connects to DME, DME checks the device status in MobiControl.

  If the device is locked, deleted or otherwise unavailable, access to DME is blocked.

• When a device connects to DME with a valid MobiControl ID, DME checks the DME device ID of the device in question.

  If the DME device ID is already in use for another device, the device is denied access.

Note: The check for duplicate DME device IDs has one side effect: If a user performs a complete factory reset of a device, the DME client will generate a new device ID when installed. This means that it will appear as a duplicate in the DME admin console (because it has the same MobiControl ID, but a different DME device ID), and will be denied access. The resolution to this is that the DME administrator removes the original device from the DME administration interface.

Also, it should be noted that for the duplicate check to be most effective, as many devices as possible under external MDM control should also be used with DME.

Apart from accessing MobiControl every time a device connects, DME scans the MobiControl server every day for information about devices that have not connected for the last 24 hours. If those device no longer exist in MobiControl or are not active, DME releases the DME license for those devices.

This Appendix describes what happens when the DME Administrator turns the Enable external MDM switch On (see MDM), and how to create installation packages for DME clients.