Platform notifications and warnings

Information about notifications and warning messages that are displayed for administrators on the IBM® MaaS360® Portal Home page.

MaaS360 integrates with numerous services that use certificates or tokens that the administrator must periodically renew before they expire. The IBM MaaS360 Portal displays notifications on the Home page to alert administrators that a deadline to renew certificates or tokens is approaching:

Alert messages that are displayed in the MaaS360 Portal

APNs certificate

The Apple Push Notification Service (APNs) certificate is core to MDM on Apple devices. If the administrator fails to renew the certificate by the expiration date or uses an Apple ID to renew the certificate that is different than the Apple ID that is used during setup, existing devices stop reporting to theIBM MaaS360 Portal and the administrator cannot enroll new Apple devices. However, users can still access and use application features (such as Secure Mail) or use an applied MDM policy on a device, but new actions and policies fail to reach the devices. If a new certificate is generated with a new Apple ID, the device user must manually remove the MDM profile from the existing device (and depending on device settings, this action might require a factory restore) and reenroll the device to continue management of the device. For steps on how to renew the APNs certificate, see Renewing the APNS certificate in the IBM MaaS360 Portal.

VPP and DEP token renewal

The VPP and the DEP services require annual renewal, but present fewer consequences if the administrator misses the renewal deadline. If the administrator fails to renew one of these tokens, service to the device is stopped until the device implements a new token. However, this interruption in service does not impact devices and apps that are already deployed to users, only new app distributions and device enrollments are affected. For steps on how to renew the VPP token or the DEP token, see Apple VPP Managed License Integration Guide or Apple DEP Configuration Guide.

Duplicate Apple tokens

In some rare situations, a MaaS360 instance might be using a deployment token that is already in use by another MaaS360 instance or by another MDM solution entirely. These duplications cause sync errors, and certain features might not function as expected unless the duplication is removed.
  • VPP: If the VPP token that is uploaded to MaaS360 is already in use by another MaaS360 instance or MDM solution, the administrator can override the token that is in use by the existing instance or solution. MaaS360 assumes control of the token, and that token can no longer be used in the other environment.
  • DEP: Unlike VPP tokens, a DEP token cannot be used simultaneously with another solution. If the administrator receives an upload error, the token is in use or was used by another MaaS360 instance, a previous trial, or a QA environment. If you are not certain where the token is in use, contact IBM Support with your account number and send the DEP token to IBM Support in an email message or by using the secure document repository solution. For steps on how to renew either the VPP token or the DEP token, see Apple VPP Managed License Integration Guide and Apple DEP Configuration Guide.

Windows Symantec certificate

Windows 10 MDM requires a Symantec certificate for certain advanced features and functions. If the administrator fails to renew the certificate, some MaaS360 app-based features are impacted, but devices remain enrolled and can still receive MDM actions. The certificate renewal affects only Windows Phone, but is not required by Windows 10 Desktop OS versions (Pro, Enterprise, Education).