alexanderstein

Q: Proper Backup of Apple Configurator

Has anyone else tied the Apple desktop or laptop they configured to use with Apple Configurator to a backup system yet and tried restoring?  I have read this Apple KB article, but wanted to know if there are any gotchas or anyone experienced anything else that was detrimental in their backups.  It says just to the ~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.configurator directory is important, but this is a departure from the iPhone Configuration Utility where Apple representatives warned us about ever removing that device, because the certificates for signing profiles could never be exported to another system (despite certificate export utilities).  I do not know if I should be so worried, so I was curious if anyone else had experience.

iPad 2, iOS 5.0.1, Lion 10.7.3 & Configurator 1.0.1

Posted on May 13, 2012 5:02 AM

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Q: Proper Backup of Apple Configurator

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  • by christopher274,

    christopher274 christopher274 May 14, 2012 3:01 PM in response to alexanderstein
    Level 1 (34 points)
    May 14, 2012 3:01 PM in response to alexanderstein

    There is an identity in your keychain that you should export and move to the new machine. It's named 'Apple Configurator (xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx).

  • by DC11,

    DC11 DC11 Jun 8, 2012 10:22 AM in response to alexanderstein
    Level 2 (195 points)
    Jun 8, 2012 10:22 AM in response to alexanderstein

    I haven't tried what you are asking specifically "Has anyone else tied the Apple desktop or laptop they configured to use with Apple Configurator to a backup system yet and tried restoring?"

    but I have moved the com.apple.configurator folder to other user accounts and computers and had Configurator work correctly under the other accounts and on the other computers.

    The reason I've done this is because I've set up several mobile iPod carts. I originally prepared the iPods on an admin account on a MacBook that is with each cart. Then I moved the com.apple.configurator folder to the generic account that teachers and the school tech will use to manage the iPods at the schools. Apple Configurator hasn't complained about the move to a different user account.

    I've also had to do some troubleshooting as I was learning to use Apple Configurator, so I would move the com.apple.configurator folder from the MacBook I was working on to my own computer, and once again, Apple Configurator worked without complaints, and retained all the settings, apps, etc. that I had set up in it on the MacBook.

  • by gyrhead,

    gyrhead gyrhead Jun 8, 2012 11:03 AM in response to DC11
    Level 3 (785 points)
    Jun 8, 2012 11:03 AM in response to DC11

    Good to know. Thanks for sharing.

  • by olyviataase,

    olyviataase olyviataase Nov 8, 2012 1:44 PM in response to DC11
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 8, 2012 1:44 PM in response to DC11

    Can you please provide in detail how you did this. Thanks

  • by DC11,

    DC11 DC11 Dec 7, 2012 2:41 PM in response to olyviataase
    Level 2 (195 points)
    Dec 7, 2012 2:41 PM in response to olyviataase

    Sorry to take so long to respond. With Configurator 1.2, Apple moved the config folder to another location, and it took some looking to find it. I'm assuming from the moved location, that the program is being sandboxed now (at least in Mountain Lion).

    This article http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5194 talks about where the config folder is stored. What I did was copy that config folder (called com.apple.configurator, which is now in ~/Library/Container/com.apple.configurator/Data/Library/Application Support) to a storage drive (a server, in my case) to back it up. I then copied the folder to the same location on my computer. Logged out then back in (I assume you can just restart Finder to do the same), then Configurator picks up the new database.

    Hope this helps.

  • by DC11,

    DC11 DC11 Dec 10, 2012 3:03 PM in response to DC11
    Level 2 (195 points)
    Dec 10, 2012 3:03 PM in response to DC11

    Update: Just copy the com.apple.configurator folder in ~/Library/Containers to wherever you want to back the Configurator database to. To move it to another machine, just place this folder in the same place on the new computer.

    Also, be aware that the folder gets relatively large (>1GB) as you add updates and apps to Configurator. Depending on your network's speed, copying this folder to a network share can take awhile.

    Let me know if you need any additional info.