Jamf Migrate

mi·grate

/ˈmīˌɡrāt/

verb

1. (of an animal, typically a bird or fish) move from one region or habitat to another according to the seasons.
   (of a person) move to a new area or country in order to find work or better living conditions.
2. move from one part of something to another.
3. change or cause to change from one system to another.
   "customers are migrating from mainframes to client-server environments"
4. transfer (programs or hardware) from one system to another.
   "the system will allow users to migrate applications across environments"

The word migrate holds several meanings that differ slightly based on its relation to the subject of its use. Fundamentally, however, these meanings refer to the act of “moving from a less desirable location to a more optimal one that better meets your needs.”

This is the core aim of Jamf Migrate: it’s not a silver bullet that gets customers to switch to Jamf, but rather a comprehensive service that eliminates the struggle of moving devices from an existing MDM provider to Jamf’s industry-leading solutions. Blending a deep knowledge base and the technical prowess of the Professional Services Team, Jamf offers a customizable, branded experience that is backed by our promise to offer a solution that maximizes productivity while minimizing headaches during your migration to Jamf.

What is Jamf Migrate?

Jamf Migrate is part of a workflow that streamlines and simplifies migrating from your existing MDM provider to Jamf Pro (macOS and iOS). Delivered as part of our Professional Services Team offering, our team of experts works with you to achieve success with your migration project from beginning to end, guiding the end-user throughout the workflow to provide the best end-user experience.

What are the requirements for Jamf Migrate?

While each MDM provider develops their software based on Apple’s frameworks, which features they support and how they go about implementing them vary from one provider to the other. Before diving into the step-by-step process, the general requirements necessary to allow a user-initiated migration are:

iOS

• Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager supervision (optional but required for wiping migration)
• Jamf Migrate app (Volume Purchase Program required for deployment)
• Functioning Apple Push Notification Services (APNS)
• Ability to deploy app configurations from source MDM
• iOS 14 or newer

Note: Supervision is only required if you prefer a wiping migration

macOS

• Ability to deploy packages from source MDM
• Ability to deploy custom configuration profiles from source MDM
• Functioning Apple Push Notification Services(APNS)
• macOS 12 Monterey or newer

Migrating to Jamf Pro: Step-by-step

The Professional Services Team aims to make short work of your migration project by streamlining the process through automation as much as possible. We’ll work with you to ensure all dependencies are accounted for and concerns addressed.

Alongside their expert help, the Professional Services Team will provision the Jamf Migrate app and migration framework in the source and destination MDM servers. Admins will deploy settings and the Jamf Migrate app to managed devices from the Source MDM. The videos below show a typical user experience on macOS and iOS:

iOS

macOS

Frequently Asked Questions

Below is a list of commonly asked questions related to Jamf Migrate, our Professional Services Team or the migration process itself.

Which MDM providers are supported?

Migrating to Jamf Pro with Jamf Migrate currently includes support for more than 10 MDMs, including Microsoft Intune, Omnissa (formerly Workspace ONE), Kandji, and Mosyle. Support is subject to change based on any source MDM product changes or device type. Contact us to learn if your MDM is supported.

What if my MDM is not supported?

The list above is current but far from exhaustive with providers being tested and added to the support list frequently.

However, even if your source MDM is not supported, the Jamf Migration experts can investigate by performing a discovery engagement.

What ownership models does Jamf Migrate support?

All forms of device-based management are supported from the source MDM.

Is the process impacted or different between company-owned and BYO devices?

No. Supervised devices will remain supervised after the migration process is completed. BYO devices are restricted from being supervised (prevented by Apple’s management frameworks) because they require an account-driven user enrollment type to isolate company data from users’ personal data. It should also be noted that Supervision state and behavior are different between iOS and macOS, your Professional Services Team can provide information regarding their differences when discussing the workflow for your migration project.

Are there any concerns enterprises should be aware of before starting migration?

Many source MDMs offer ways to prepare devices for enrollment into Jamf Pro. That said, each environment may be affected by factors such as migration complexity or needs unique to the organization. Jamf ensures the success of your migration by actively being a part of the planning process and helping the customer make the critical decisions that are best for their environment.

Do I have to wipe my devices to switch MDMs? Will I lose my supervision status?

Jamf offers both wiping and non-wiping options depending on your preferences and requirements. In either case, supervised devices will remain supervised.

Is a Professional Services engagement required to migrate to Jamf?

No, but we want to make things easy since we know migrating can be stressful. A scoping call, scheduled prior to your migration, for initial discovery into your environment, is paired with a Professional Services engagement to simplify the process for admins and end users. In addition to the Jamf Migrate app, the Professional Services engagement includes, project planning and automating API calls.

How long does it take to migrate an iOS or macOS device?

There’s a distinction between the service engagement and migration processes. The former provides simplicity and embraces flexibility, enabling the success of migration projects. The latter is the result of blending simplicity and flexibility to successfully migrate each device, taking into consideration each user’s ability and comfort levels with technology. In short, Jamf Migrate reduces migration times from hours (or days), down to minutes per device with an average of 2-4 minutes per device, with total migration times varying based on environment complexity as well as end users’ ability and comfort levels with technology.

Customer Success Stories

During a recent session at MacAD.UK, Erik Bille & Liam Nicholson from Monzo cover how they seamlessly rolled out their new Zero Trust Access experience, including onboarding new vendors, such as Jamf, building automated device enrollment flows and encouraging Monzonauts (i.e. Monzo employees) to solve Security and Technical issues themselves by using OSQuery. At minute 8:49, Erik begins to describe his experience with Jamf Professional Services.”

MacAD.UK is the only UK conference where Apple Admins and Developers from enterprise and education come to network, learn, share and discuss the critical IT issues of the day. It’s a must-attend event for professional Mac Admins and Developers. With intensive sessions run over two days, delegates come to network, share, discover, compare, meet, learn, hang out and socialize with the best Apple techs in the world.