Exporting and Importing MDM policies in MaaS360

You can export MDM policy settings from one MaaS360 account and import them into another MaaS360 account.

The export and import functionality allows you to easily move MDM policy settings between various MaaS360 accounts, create backups, and ensure consistent settings across multiple MaaS360 accounts.

This feature is useful for customers handling multiple MaaS360 sandbox and production accounts for their different business units and within a hierarchy. Customers can test a policy in their sandbox accounts, export the policy configurations, and then import the same into their production accounts to maintain uniform policy settings across all accounts.

Exporting a security policy

In MaaS360, you have the option to export MDM policy settings. This allows you to transfer these settings to another account or save them for future use. During this process, you can choose to export policy configurations in formats like ZIP, Excel, and MaaS360 policy format (.maas360).

Note: Administrators with read-only permissions for MDM policies do not have the option to export policies in .maas360 format.

Follow these steps to export a policy:

  1. From the MaaS360 Portal Home page, select Security > Policies.

    The Policies page is displayed.

  2. Perform one of the following:
    • Click the Export link under the policy name (or click More > Export).
    • Click the View link under the policy name to go to the policy details page, click the three vertical dots icon, and select Export policy.
  3. Select one of the following policy export format options based on your requirements:
    • iOS exportable format: Exports all MDM policy payload data in a ZIP file. This ZIP file contains policy settings for each iOS and macOS version in separate XML files. Supported only for iOS and macOS platforms.
    • Excel File: Exports policy data in Excel format. Supported for iOS, macOS, Android, and Windows platforms. For more information, see Understanding data in the exported excel file.
    • MaaS360 policy export format: Exports the policy settings in an encrypted file of .maas360 format. This format is particularly designed for importing policy settings into other MaaS360 accounts, while ZIP and Excel formats might be used for backup or record-keeping purposes. You can export this format for MDM policies like Android, iOS, macOS, Endpoint, and Windows. An encryption password is required for exporting in this format. The same password will be needed during import. Supported for iOS, macOS, Android, and Windows platforms.
    Note:
    • This format is available for export only when the policy doesn't have validation errors.
    • Tampering with the exported file may lead to issues when importing it.
  4. Enter encryption password, if you have selected the MaaS360 policy export format.
  5. Click Export.

    The policy configurations are exported in the selected file format.

Importing a security policy

You can import a policy that was previously exported from another MaaS360 account in the .maas360 format. During the import process, MaaS360 replaces all the policy configurations that do not include external references. The configurations with external references are replaced only when their names and contents align precisely with those in the exported file. The external references include home screen templates, certificate templates, and content uploaded to the Policies > More > Policy Files page. For more information on content uploaded to Policy Files page, see Uploading policy files to the IBM MaaS360 Portal.

Note: Ensure all external references are in your MaaS360 account before importing to avoid errors during the import process.

Follow these steps to import policy settings from the MaaS360 Policy (.maas360) file:

  1. From the MaaS360 Portal Home page, select Security > Policies.

    The Policies page is displayed.

  2. Click the View link under the policy name to go to the policy details page, click the three vertical dots icon, and select Import policy.

    The Import policy window is displayed.

  3. Click Add file to upload an exported policy file.
    Note:
    • You can only import a MaaS360 policy format file with a .maas360 extension.
    • The policy type you export must match the policy type you're importing. For instance, if you export an iOS policy, make sure to import it into an iOS policy.
  4. Enter the encryption password that you entered while exporting the file.
    Note: The password will be used to decrypt the file.
  5. Click Import.
    • The validation script is executed for all the policy parameters.
    • The policy configurations will be imported, which replaces the existing policy configurations with the imported policy configurations.
    • The status of the policy will be changed to Imported.
    • Import warnings are displayed if there are discrepancies in customer properties or mismatches in file content between the export and import instances.
    • Import errors are displayed if the policy files from the exported instance are missing in the importing instance.
    • The certificate references and policy files will not be replaced unless the file names match.
    • All the changes made to a policy during import can be viewed in the Review Changes section of the policy.
      Review Changes for a policy
    Note: After successfully importing a file, you must fix all the import errors and warnings to publish the policy.

Fixing import warnings

During policy import, warnings may arise if there are discrepancies in customer properties or mismatches in file content between the export and import instances.

Follow these steps to fix the import warnings due to file content mismatch:

  1. Navigate to the required policy.
  2. Click View warnings link on the warning message.
    Policy import warning

    The list of warnings generated due to file content mismatch is displayed in the Import warning window.

  3. Click the Fix link in the Actions column corresponding to the file name for which you want to fix the warning.

    The Upload New iPCU Settings window is displayed.

  4. Upload the supporting file.
  5. Click Save.

Fixing import errors

When importing a policy, errors can occur if the policy files from the exported instance are missing in the importing instance.

Follow these steps to fix the import errors:

  1. Navigate to the required policy.
  2. Click View errors link on the error message.
    Policy import error

    The list of errors generated during the policy import is displayed in the View errors window.

  3. Click the setting in the Setting name column for which you want to fix the error.

    You will be navigated to the policy setting where the supporting policy file is missing.

  4. Modify the policy setting as required or upload the corresponding missing policy file in the MaaS360 account. For more information on uploading policy files, see Uploading policy files to the IBM MaaS360 Portal.

Viewing the history for policy import and export:

Follow these steps to view history for policy export and import actions:

  1. From the MaaS360 Portal Home page, select Security > Policies.

    The Policies page is displayed.

  2. Click the View link under the policy name to go to the policy details page, click the three vertical dots icon, and select View History.
    • This page displays the history of all the actions taken on the policy until the current date.
    • The export actions are captured as Export events.
    • The import actions are captured as Save events. The changes made to a policy due to a policy import will be considered a save action on the policy. The import details are displayed in the Comments section.