Carousel is an enterprise digital signage CMS that allows users to create and manage screen content. Carousel pushes content to Apple TV, iPad, and Mac media players to display this content. The Carousel Cloud Player App must be installed on each Apple TV, iPad, and Mac to display content. This is where Jamf comes in! With Jamf, you can easily install and configure the Carousel Cloud Player App on all your Apple devices. 

Prerequisites

This documentation assumes you have Jamf Pro 10.35 or higher, an Apple Volume Purchasing Program (such as Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager) account, and devices available in Automated MDM Enrollment.

• Carousel Cloud Player is available for iPads running iOS 13 or later and Apple TVs.

• It is recommended that your Apple TVs run tvOS 13 or later. This makes future updates to tvOS easier.

• If you use HTTPS to access Jamf Pro on-premise, you must have a trusted certificate installed (issued by a CA and not self-signed).

Volume Purchase App via Apple Manager

1. Open the appropriate App Store:

   1. Apple Business Manager: https://business.apple.com/, or

   2. Apple School Manager: https://school.apple.com/

2. Click on Apps & Books

3. Search in the left column for Carousel Cloud Player

   

4. The best practice for “purchasing” is to acquire 110% coverage for your system

   1. If you are planning to have 50 Apple devices, volume purchase 55 licenses

5. We assume that this VPP account is linked to your Jamf Pro instance

Jamf Device Configuration (Apple TV and iPad)

I. Configure PreStage Enrollment

1. Sign into your Jamf Pro instance.

2. Navigate to Devices and then to PreStage Enrollments.

3. Create a new PreStage Enrollment.

4. Set the PreStage Enrollment Display Name to Carousel Cloud.

   

5. Select the Mobile Device Names tab and set a naming method.

   1. The best practice is to use Serial Numbers with the prefix of Carousel Cloud.

      

6. Use the Scope tab to select the Apple devices you would like to use as Players.

   

II. Smart Device Group

1. Navigate to Devices > Smart Device Groups under the Groups heading in the sidebar.

2. Click New.

3. Set the Display Name to Carousel Cloud Smart Group.

4. Go to the Criteria tab to add Enrollment Method: PreStage enrollment.

5. Set the Value to the name of the PreStage Enrollment and click Save.

   

III. Add and Configure the Mobile Device App

1. Select Mobile Device Apps from the left column under the Content Management heading.

2. Click on New.

3. Select App Store app or apps purchased in volume as the App Type.

   

4. Search for Carousel Cloud Player

   

5. Select the Apps Purchased in Volume tab

   

6. Click Add

7. General tab Settings:

   

   1. Set a Display Name for the app or choose to leave the default.

   2. Change the Distribution Method to Install Automatically/Prompt Users to Install.

   3. Choose either Schedule Jamf Pro to automatically check iTunes for app updates or Automatically Force App Updates or leave them disabled to manually update when you choose.

      

8. Scope tab Settings:

   1. Under Targets > Selected Deployment Targets click Add

   2. Choose Mobile Device Groups and click Add next to the Carousel Cloud Smart Group.

      

9. Managed distribution tab Settings:

   1. Enable the Assign Content Purchased in Volume option

      

10. App Configuration tab Settings:

    1. Retrieve your customized App Config from Carousel Cloud:

       

       1. Login to your Carousel Cloud instance

       2. Navigate to Configure > Players > Player Setup

       3. Select Apple TV or iPad

       4. Set Jamf Pro as the Provider

       5. Set a Provisioned Channel if you want it to differ from the system’s initial channel.

       6. Set any Provisioned Tags you want the devices to be tagged with

       7. NOTE: By default, AppleTVs and iPads will register in Carousel Cloud with their device name (requires Cloud Player version 24+). You can modify the application configuration to use any application payload variable described in this article: https://support.carouselsignage.com/hc/en-us/articles/17307185712916-Naming-Jamf-managed-devices-in-Carousel-Cloud.

       8. Then copy the configuration using the copy button in the top-right corner of the text window

    2. Paste the custom App Config into Preferences

       

    3. Click Save

IV. Create Configuration Profiles

A. Baseline Security

We recommend creating a baseline security configuration profile to secure your devices. This could include restricting AirPlay on the Apple TV and any other restrictions you would like to apply.

B. Single App Mode: Carousel Cloud tvOS

We highly recommend any device used for digital signage run in Single App Mode.  This will limit the screen to only showing Carousel unless AirPlay (if allowed) overrides it.

1. Create a new Configuration Profile and name it Single App Mode: Carousel Cloud tvOS.

2. In the Options tab, select Single App Mode and click Configure.

   

3. Set the Targeted Operating System to tvOS.

4. Set the Bundle ID to com.trms.CarouselCloudPlayer.

5. Select your Options

   

6. In the Scope tab, add the Carousel Cloud Smart Group

7. Click Save

C. Single App Mode: Carousel Cloud iOS

A similar process can be used to keep iPads showing Carousel content.

1. Set the Targeted Operating System to iOS instead of tvOS.

2. Select Carousel Cloud for Lock to App

3. Set your Options

   

4. In the Scope tab, add the Carousel Cloud Smart Group

   1. You can also choose not to scope this Configuration Profile to iPads and instead use it similarly to AirPlay Interrupt for Apple TVs by having Carousel scope the Profile when an Alert is activated.

5. Click Save

Optional Configuration: AirPlayer Interrupt

You must create an additional configuration profile if you want Carousel to interrupt AirPlay sessions when alert content is triggered. This profile will turn off AirPlay so the Apple TV returns to single-app mode, showing only the Carousel Cloud Player App.

I. Disable AirPlay Profile

1. Create a new Configuration Profile and name it Disable AirPlay.

2. In the Options tab, select Restrictions, then Functionality.

3. Filter by tvOS

4. For AirPlay incoming request, select Restrict

   

5. Click Save

II. Static Device Group per Zone

1. Navigate to Devices > Static Device Groups under the Groups heading in the sidebar.

2. Click New.

3. Set the Display Name to Carousel Cloud [ZONE] Alerts Group.

   1. Replace [ZONE] with the name of the zone this will be attached to

4. Repeat for each zone you want to configure later

Carousel will move devices in and out, so there is no need to add any devices now.

III. Create a Jamf User Service Account

1. Click on Settings on the Main Menu

2. Then, on Jamf Pro User Accounts & Groups

3. Then click New

4. Select Create Standard Account

5. Set the Username to Carousel Cloud SA

6. Access Level should remain Full Access

7. Leave Privilege Set as Custom

8. Set a Password

9. In the Privileges tab, within the Jamf Pro Server Objects options, enable the following:

   1. Mobile Device Configuration Profiles

      1. Read (column 2)

      2. Update (column 3)

   2. Mobile Devices

      1. Read

         

   3. Static Mobile Device Groups

      1. Read

      2. Update

         

10. Then Save

IV. Authenticate Carousel Cloud with Jamf Pro

1. Login to your Carousel user interface

2. Go to Configure > System > External Authentication.

3. Click on New

4. Set the Type to Jamf Pro.

5. Give the Authentication a Name

6. Fill in your Jamf Pro Server URL

7. Use the Username and Password from above

   

8. Click Save.

V. Add Device Groups for Full Alerts in Carousel

1. Go to Configure > Zones

2. Either Edit or Create the Full Screen Alert Zone you want to attach.

3. Under Alert Settings, select Force Monitor on When Alerts are Active.

4. Then, select the desired MDM Device Group you created earlier.

   

5. Click Save