ADE Naming

This article is for individuals who want to customize naming of ADE (formerly known as DEP) devices. It will cover placeholders and their ability to accept name, as well as using custom and built-in strings in the ADE profile.

Placeholders are most useful for new incoming devices where the name is highly customized. And where you want to use additional attributes like custom fields.

Placeholders

Step-by-step guide

1. Prepare a tab-delimited text file containing the device names and serial numbers. Follow the template headers and column order in the import instructions; do not use the Custom Field CSV as the placeholder import file.
   See Importing Computer Clients from a file and Enrolling Computer Clients
2. If naming depends on Custom Fields, create the administrator-provided fields and assign them to the placeholders before importing their values as CSV. Use each field's internal name, not its display label.
   See Custom Fields: Importing CSV for more information

For the complete two-stage import workflow, see Using Placeholders to Pre-Assign Device Names and Custom Fields. Creating the placeholder and importing its Custom Field values are separate steps; confirm that the intended values are present before assigning a naming profile that uses them.

Variables in the ADE profile

Step-by-step guide

1. Generate an ADE profile
   See Working with Apple's Device Enrollment Program (ADE)
2. In the naming tab of the ADE profile, use FileWave-resolved values that are available for the device: 
   Built-in inventory variables (use the FileWave-resolved sections, not the macOS-only SCEP variables, in Using variables in Apple iOS/macOS Profiles )
   Custom inventory variables, using the %custom_field.INTERNAL_NAME% (see more at Custom Fields )
3. It would also be recommended that you create an automatic ADE rule to only assign this profile to devices that have the variables set: see the example in Automatically Assign ADE profiles

Before enrolling a larger group, test the naming profile with one prepared device. Confirm its serial number matches the intended placeholder, its required Custom Field values are populated, and the expected ADE profile is assigned. After enrollment, compare the resulting device name with the expected name. If it differs, check the imported values, variable spelling, and assignment rule before expanding the rollout.

FileWave Foundry Video

Sign into FileWave Foundry and watch a video here regarding ADE Naming.