Does Apple Server 3.0 MDM really require an APNs certificate?

Question

A while back I set up an MDM server on our Apple Server running 10.9.2. The server is running Server 3.0.3 and I have several test Macs and iOS being managed by the server. The only certificate I remember installing is our domain wildcard which shows up under the Certificates "Secure services using".

Since setting up this server we are looking at running Meraki MDM for managing our Android and Windows devices and I thought I would give the Apple devices a try over there. Meraki is asking me to perform a certificate signing request. Before I move forward with this I'm just wondering why I can't seem to find any trace of a APNs certificate on my Apple Server.

I've even looked under the Server Settings in Server.app and "enable Apple push notifications" is unchecked and yet I'm able to push changes to my devices.

Can anyone help me understand why I can push updates to my devices from the Apple server without seeing any trace of the APNs certificate?

Thank you.

Answer 1

After moving forward with the Meraki MDM APNs certificate, creating a new Apple ID, I determined that the Apple Server 3.0 must create the certificate behind the scenes.

Here's a screenshot of the certificates within the Apple Certificates Portal for the Apple Server.

Here's a screenshot of the certificate within the Apple Certificate Portal for the Meraki MDM.

As you can see the Certificate Portal must be differentiating between APNs automatically established by Apple Server and third party MDMs.