Android

Welcome to the still growing Android device management jungle: A summary

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The second short post of this week is another extension of one of my sessions at the Workplace Ninja Summit 2022. At the summit I did my second session about Welcome to the still growing Android device management jungle. During that session I shared information around the still growing device management options for Android devices, pointers that can help with making the right decisions and information around the different configuration options. This post will provide a quick summary of that session by going through the different management options, providing important differences and summarizing the main configuration capabilities. The slides (PDF) of that session are available for download here. Android (device) management options When looking at the Android (device) management options, there are many options. And the number …

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Creating the path for mobile devices to on-premises resources: A summary

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This week a few shorter posts, as my posts this week are extensions of my sessions at the Workplace Ninja Summit 2022. At the summit I did my first session about Creating the path for mobile devices to on-premises resources. During that session I shared information around the architecture and flow of Microsoft Tunnel, I zoomed in on getting up-and-running with Microsoft Tunnel and showed getting insight of Microsoft Tunnel. This post will provide a quick summary of that session by quickly showing the architecture and flow of Microsoft Tunnel and by showing the summary and reminders. The slides (PDF) of that session are available for download here. Architecting Microsoft Tunnel An important part of creating the Microsoft Tunnel infrastructure is a solid architecture. In most cases that …

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Addressing the need for multiple Microsoft Tunnel Gateway servers

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This week will focus on addressing the need for multiple Microsoft Tunnel Gateway servers. A single server is easy to setup, and easy to discuss and to describe, but that just a starting point. Often there is a need for multiple Microsoft Tunnel Gateway servers. That could be for providing high availabilty, for supporting the right amount of users and even for providing access to resources on different remote locations. So, it can be multiple servers on the same location and multiple servers on different locations. This post will go through the main scenarios for multiple servers and will focus on the main configurations that should be in place to support and configure those scenarios. No detailed configurations this time. Only descriptions of the main …

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Using Microsoft Tunnel for per-app VPN

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This week is another mobile focused blog post. This week is al around Microsoft Tunnel. More specifically, this week is all about using Microsoft Tunnel for providing per-app VPN on iOS/iPadOS devices and Android devices. Per-app VPN enables organizations to only allow specifically configured apps to use the configured VPN tunnel. So, not simply pushing all traffice through the VPN tunnel, but only the traffic of specific apps. That provides a solid method for providing access to on-premises resources for only the apps that really need it. This post will start with a quick summary of what should be in place, followed by going through the important per-app VPN specific configurations. Those configurations slightly differ per platform. This post will end by showing the user …

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Backup and restore Android Enterprise fully managed devices

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This week is something completely different compared to the last couple of weeks. This week is back to the Android platform. More specifically, backing up and restoring data on Android Enterprise fully managed devices. An often heard challenge with Android Enterprise managed devices, is the lack of available functionalities for restoring data from an old device to a new device. So, the ability to backup the data on the old device and to restore the data on the new device. That’s challenging as there is simply a lack of available backup functionality when relying on Android Enterprise. The Samsung Smart Switch app could be a solution for that challenge. It enables users to seamlessly transfers contacts, photos, music, videos, messages, notes, calendars and more to …

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Freezing the install of system updates on Android Enterprise corporate-owned devices

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This week is all about a very recent new introduced feature for Android Enterprise corporate-owned devices. That feature is the ability to freeze the install of system updates for a period of time. Freezing system updates on Android Enterprise corporate-owned devices enables organizations to stick to a specific version of Android for the specified period of time. That can be usefull to get the right support of the vendor of an app, or to make sure that a specific app works with the latest verison of Android. That level of control makes Android more and more enterprise ready, without the need of additional management tooling (OEMConfig). This post will start with a quick introduction to the freeze period for system updates, followed with the steps …

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Using the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint app for connecting to Microsoft Tunnel Gateway

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This week is something completely different, compared to the last couple of weeks. This week is back to Microsoft Tunnel. Microsoft Tunnel is the VPN gateway solution for Microsoft Intune that fully integrates with Azure AD (and Conditional Access) for providing access to on-premises resources on iOS and Android devices. In the early stages of Microsoft Tunnel, there used to be a separate Microsoft Tunnel app for iOS and Android devices. One of the challenges with those devices is that there can only be one active VPN at the same time. That’s especially challenging when using it in combination with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. That makes the combination of both products into a single app, a logic move. That’s been the case for Android already …

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Microsoft Tunnel Gateway: A quick overview

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This week my post is a few days later, as my post is an extension of my session at the Nordic Virtual Summit Second Edition. At the virtual summit I did a session about Getting access to on-premises resources with Microsoft Tunnel. During that session I shared the information around the architecture of Microsoft Tunnel and I zoomed in on getting up-and-running with Microsoft Tunnel and getting insight in Microsoft Tunnel. This post will provide a quick summary of that session about the different important components of Microsoft Tunnel and how to get connected to Microsoft Tunnel. Most of that information will be summarized in tables and slides. The slides (PDF) of that session are available for download here. Main components of Microsoft Tunnel The Microsoft Tunnel …

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Simplifying targetting groups of apps with app protection policies

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This week is all about the simplification in targetting groups of apps with app protection policies and a followup on my tweet of last week. That tweet provided a quick peak at the new targetting options of app protection policies for Android and iOS/iPadOS devices. The great thing about that simplification is that app protection policies can now be targeted at different categories (or groups) of apps. Those categories of apps are All apps, All Microsoft apps and Core Microsoft apps, and are dynamically updated to include the appropriate apps. That dynamic update will make sure that the already created app protection policies are automatically updated with the latest apps that are available for the different categories and will also make sure that newly created …

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Enhancing the Work Profile experience with system apps

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This week is all around enhancing the Work Profile experience with the most common system apps on Android devices. Getting the right system apps available within the Work Profile can enhance the user experience and the data separation. Mainly the latter actually, as for more apps the experience will be divided between a personal app and a work app. And that’s not always the best user experience. That could be useful when looking at for example the Camera app. Without adding that app to the Work Profile, all movies and pictures will be stored in the Personal Profile. This post will start with a quick overview of the most common Android Enterprise system apps, followed with the steps for managing (read: enabling) those apps. This …

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