Migrate your Macs to Hexnode with Hexnode Gateway

Efficiently managing digital assets is critical for the growth of the organization. MDM solutions help an organization remotely manage and monitor its endpoint devices with ease. At times, the company may outgrow the existing MDM’s capabilities. To accommodate and manage these changes, organizations may be required to migrate to an alternate MDM solution. A device wipe may be necessary for the migration into a new MDM solution.

Hexnode introduces a new enrollment method targeting the migration of macOS devices to Hexnode UEM. The Mac Gateway application remotely migrates macOS devices to Hexnode UEM without performing a device wipe. This document will guide you through the steps to seamlessly migrate your macOS devices to Hexnode UEM.

Migrate Mac to Hexnode UEM

The Hexnode Gateway installed on the devices helps the users with migration from the device end. The app can be installed by creating a configuration file from the Hexnode console and then deploying the PKG file to the devices. This configuration file specifies the configurations for the Hexnode Gateway app and the device-specific network settings necessary to process the migration. Follow these steps to migrate your Mac from another MDM to Hexnode.

1. Navigate to Enroll > Platform-Specific > macOS > Migrate to Hexnode.
2. If you have already generated the configuration file, skip to step 11. If not, click on Generate a new configuration file.
3. Provide a suitable name for the configuration file under the File name field.

Configure Gateway app settings

4. Enable the option Enforce Hexnode Gateway app in full screen to open the app in full screen. This option restricts the device to the Gateway app until the migration is complete.
5. Allow users to leave the full screen during migration enforced by the Gateway app by enabling the option Allow user to exit full screen. The user can tap on the Hexnode icon on the left side of the Gateway app 5 times in quick succession to exit the full screen for 15 seconds.
6. Enable the option Automate Migration to initiate the device migration without the interaction of the user. The migration will start automatically after the Hexnode Gateway app is installed on the device. All removable MDM profiles will be removed from the device, and the user will be asked to authenticate if any authentication is enforced.
7. Admins can choose the enrollment type as Adaptive or Device enrollment (Manual).
   • Adaptive – The Hexnode Gateway app automatically detects the device capabilities and initiates Automated Device Enrollment (DEP) or Device Enrollment (Manual) as suited.
   • Device Enrollment (Manual) – The Hexnode Gateway app forces manual Device Enrollment over Automated Device Enrollment. Not recommended as this severely reduces the device management capabilities.

Configure network settings

8. Wi-Fi configuration – Enable the option Add Wi-Fi settings to configuration file to configure the Wi-Fi settings. The configured Wi-Fi settings will be reflected on the device upon PKG file installation.
9. VPN configuration – Enable the option Add VPN settings to configuration file to configure the VPN settings. The configured VPN settings will be reflected on the device upon PKG file installation.
Warning:


Once the PKG file is deployed, there may be chances that the network configurations be exposed to the users at the device end. Thus, while configuring the network settings, we advise using temporary network configurations and refrain from using Enterprise network configurations.


10. Click on Generate a custom PKG file to generate the configuration file in downloadable format. It may take several minutes to prepare the configuration profile in PKG format.
11. Download the PKG file onto your device.
12. Deploy the configuration file to target macOS devices. You can even use your existing MDM to deploy the file.

Complete device migration

The deployed PKG file installs the Hexnode Gateway app on the device and associates the configurations. The Hexnode Gateway app automatically opens up after installing the PKG file on the device.

Choose any of the following cases depending on your device scenarios and follow the steps accordingly.

Case 1: The device is not a DEP device and enrolled in MDM

1. Initiate the disenrollment from the currently enrolled MDM.
2. Now, click Enroll on the Hexnode Gateway app follow the steps to enroll the device.
3. The admin user is required to approve the MDM profile before installation on devices running macOS 10.15 and above.

Case 2: The device is DEP device and not enrolled in MDM

1. Login to your ABM portal and reassign the device to the MDM server associated with the Hexnode UEM console.
2. Ensure that the device is synced with the Hexnode portal from Admin > Apple Business > Apple DEP > DEP Devices.
3. If the devices do not appear here, click Sync with DEP to sync with Apple Business Manager.
4. Then, click Migrate MDM Profile from the Hexnode Gateway app.
5. The device will get enrolled in Hexnode without getting wiped.
6. Admins can update the DEP profile after enrollment.

Case 3: The device is a DEP device and enrolled in MDM

1. Initiate the disenrollment from the currently enrolled MDM.
2. Login to your ABM portal and reassign the device to the MDM server associated with the Hexnode UEM console.
3. Ensure that the device is synced with the Hexnode portal from Admin > Apple Business > Apple DEP > DEP Devices.
4. If the devices do not appear here, click Sync with DEP to sync with Apple Business Manager.
5. Then, click Migrate MDM Profile from the Hexnode Gateway app.
   
   Notes:

   
   On devices running macOS 14 and above, admin user approval is required to initiate migration. Additionally, the MDM profile must be approved by the admin user before installation.
   

6. The device will get enrolled in Hexnode without getting wiped.
7. Admins can update the DEP profile after enrollment.

Case 4: The device is not a DEP device and not enrolled in MDM

1. Click Enroll on the Hexnode Gateway app and initiate the enrollment.
2. On devices running macOS 10.15 and above, the admin user must approve the MDM profile before the installation.