The Watchman Monitoring Warranty Updater tool leverages your existing GSX access to provide AppleCare status updates for monitored computers.
Watchman Monitoring cannot grant you GSX access.
Prerequisites
- Sold-To: An existing GSX Sold-To number. We cannot grant you GSX Access.
- AppleID: The Warranty Updater requires an AppleID which has been granted GSX’s “Can Access Web Services” permission.
-
Prod.apple.com.chain.pem: The signed SSL Certificate bundle, which you received from AppleCare.
- The certificate request process is documented here)
- Private Key: The keyfile from which your .csr was generated. If the key was created with a password, it will also be required.
- Whitelisted IP: The tool must be installed on a computer which access GSX from an IP which AppleCare has white-listed.
- A single online computer: The Warranty Updater will poll your account every 5 minutes, and update all AppleCare status as needed.
- Watchman Monitoring API key: access to one or more Watchman Monitoring subscriptions.
The Warranty Updater tool uses few CPU cycles and can be run alongside any other service. A computer running AST would be a fine place to install the Warranty Updater.app.
The Warranty Updater tool can update multiple Watchman Monitoring subscriptions, including Managed Accounts.
Enable GSX Integration
Visit the GSX Integrations tab of your dashboard, set to Automatic, and choose your preferred Date Format. Click Show API Key.
Click the Copy button next to the API Key.
Configure Warranty Updater Tool
Find the Watchman-Monitoring-warranty-updater-installer.pkg in your Downloads folder and launch.
Install the Warranty Updater as you would any packaged application.
Add a Subdomain for Lookups
Locate the Warranty Updater.app in your Applications folder.
To make changes, and add your subdomain for AppleCare Expiration lookups, click the lock in the lower left corner of the Warranty Updater Tool.
Provide administrator credentials.
Click the + below the Watchman Subdomain list.
- Subdomain: The first part of the URL at which you access Watchman Monitoring.
-
API Key: Paste in an API key from this subdomain.
API keys can be found at https://app.monitoringclient.com/integrations/gsx - Sold To: Enter your Sold to’s GSX account number, add leading zeros (0) to ensure 10 digits.
-
Apple ID: Enter an Apple ID which has been granted Can Access Web Services.
To prevent errors, ensure the Apple ID is used to log into gsx.apple.com within each 30 day period. -
Certificate Chain File: Select complete certificate file which you received from Apple. This file’s name will include the word ‘chain’, and will be the following format:
Applecare-APP157-0000123456.Prod.apple.com.chain.pem -
Private Key: This is the Private Key you created during the certificate creation process.
If you followed Apple’s instructions, this file is likely named privatekey.pem and has a related password. Enter the password in the box below the key.
If you followed our instructions, this file will be named gsx-production.key and will not have a password. Your key file may be named different.
After entering these settings, click OK to save your company setup.
If you have a password on your Private Key, enter the Private Key Password.
If successful, you should see a recent Last Successful Run Date & Timestamp.
Repeat these steps to add additional Managed Accounts and other Watchman Monitoring Subscriptions to the Warranty Updater Tool.
No restart is required. The Warranty Updater’s UI can be quit at any time, processing will run hourly in the background.
We recommend installing the Watchman Monitoring agent on the computer as well. A custom plugin will notify you of any issues with the update process.
Viewing the AppleCare Expiration Records
Computer Record
AppleCare Expirations are displayed on their respective Computer Record.
Group Listing
Additional serial numbers can be tracked manually by adding them to their related Group
Expiration Overview
Expirations can be viewed, searched and sorted at https://app.monitoringclient.com/expirations
See Expiration Tracking for additional information on using Expiration Tracking in Watchman Monitoring.
Expiration details are included in emails about the related computers.
Troubleshooting
Many issues related to looking up warranty information are related to the user permissions for the GSX user. The following should be verified within GSX and MyAccess.
GSX - Web Services
The Warranty Updater requires an AppleID which has been granted GSX’s “Can Access Web Services” permission.
- Use an existing Apple ID, or create a new Apple ID at https://appleid.apple.com.
- Using the same Appled ID as your AST Server should work fine.
- Confirm that this AppleID can login to your GSX Account at https://gsx.apple.com .
- Note: Two-Factor Authentication is required, and can take up to 3 days to activate.
- Click Settings at the top. Click Permissions.
- Confirm "My Privileges" can “Access Web Services”.
MyAccess
Ensure Web Services is selected Global Service Exchange in the MyAccess account management area.
- Log into MyAccess
- Go to My Team
- Select the User
- Select Global Service Exchange
- If you do not see Web Services in Access Roles > Optional Privileges, click Update Access and select Web Services.
- Locate the confirmation email and approve the change.
Removal
The Warranty Updater tool can be removed at any time, no restart is required. Paste this command into Terminal.app:
sudo /Library/Application\ Support/Warranty\ Updater/Warranty-Updater-Removal.py -FYou will be prompted to confirm deletion of the GSX Certificate which was copied into the settings area.
How can this article be improved?
Please sign in to leave a comment.