In addition to the physical SIM option, Celona also offers the eSIM (embedded subscriber identity module) capability for the devices to authenticate and authorize access to the Celona private cellular network. There are multiple ways to onboard the eSIM onto the device
Using an individual QR (quick-response) code for each eSIM. This process works well for onboarding individual devices.
Via the MDM (Mobile Device Management) platform used by enterprises to manage corporate owned and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) mobile devices. This option is ideal for the enterprises managing large number of devices.
Celona has an integration capability with generally any MDM platform to manage Celona eSIMs for the fleet of enterprise devices. This document describes the workflow on how an enterprise can onboard supported MDM devices with Celona eSIMs via APIs.
High-level Flow
The only input required to execute the flow is the list of device EIDs (Embedded Identity Document) downloaded from the MDM system, intended device names, and optionally - the list of eSIM ICCIDs (Integrated Circuit Card Identification Number) corresponding to each device (if no ICCIDs are provided, the mapping will be assigned automatically). Once the API flow is executed, Celona Orchestrator will update the mapping between eSIM ICCIDs and device EIDs and push configuration onto Celona Edge Cluster and Celona SM-DP (Subscription Manager Data Preparation) service.
The eSIM will get activated and named, the device will get authorized to enroll via eSIM using credentials, identifier and SM-DP URL given to the device. The device will then communicate with the SM-DP service for registration and authentication / authorization for connectivity.
Detailed eSIM Onboarding Process via MDM
Prior to eSIM onboarding, the CSO account will be pre-populated with eSIMs identified by ICCID and Celona will have the eSIMs available for assignment on the SM-DP. The number of available eSIMs depends on the number of purchased AP subscriptions. Please reach out to support@celona.io to request the eSIMs.
In the MDM, the Customer needs to manage for each device: EID, Device Name, SM-DP URL. The first step in the process requires enterprise IT team to export or generate a CSV (comma-separated values) list of devices from the MDM database, either from within the MDM or other automation / scripting. The CSV file needs to contain following columns
EID - Mandatory field. Required to create the mapping between the eSIMs and specific devices.
Name - Mandatory field. Provided names will be automatically assigned to the onboarded devices in Orchestrator.
ICCID - Optional field. If this field is provided, then device EIDs will map to requested ICCIDs (example: if an existing eSIM needs to be re-assigned from one device to another); otherwise, available eSIM ICCIDs will be assigned automatically in order.
Sample CSV data with one device entry
% cat eid_upload_noiccid.csv
EID,Name
890<redacted>,iphone11SE
Celona API call needs to be performed with the CSV file as a parameter.
Syntax for the API call
curl --location 'https://cso.celona.io/v1/api/rsp/esims/assign-eid?customer_id=<customer_id>' \
--header 'X-API-Key: <API_KEY>' \
--form 'eidFile=@"/path_to_file/eid_upload_noiccid.csv"' \
--form 'customer_id="<customer_id>"'Sample run
curl --location 'https://cso.celona.io/v1/api/rsp/esims/assign-eid?customer_id=10<REDACTED>' \
--header 'X-API-Key: $2a$04$xyl<REDACTED>' \
--form 'eidFile=@"./eid_upload_noiccid.csv"' \
--form 'customer_id="10<REDACTED>"'
{"code":202,"data":{"request_id":"d3de3a94-5107-4c9e-a2e7-<REDACTED>7","server_url":"https://sm-v4-072-d-gtm.pr.go-esim.com"},"error":"","success":true}Required parameters
X-API-Key: this is your Celona API key
eidFile: this is the CSV file generated from the MDM
customer_id: this is your Celona customer ID
The SM-DP URL is
https://sm-v4-072-d-gtm.pr.go-esim.com
Once the device is powered up and has its' MDM profile updated, it will automatically connect to the Celona SM-DP server to authenticate the eSIM to the device.
After onboarding, the customer is expected to activate and set the Device Group, if needed. On the device itself, especially for Apple devices, the customer will have to manage setting cellular priority, per app settings, etc. More details on the Device Group management are available in this article.
Note that the API call with CSV is asynchronous. A “success” simply means that the request was accepted, but for many devices it may take some time to process. The request_id in the API call response can be used in a future request for status:
% curl --location 'https://cso.celona.io/v1/api/rsp/esims/eid-status?request_id=d3de3a94-5107-4c9e-a2e7-<REDACTED>7' \
--header 'X-API-Key: $2a$04$xyl<REDACTED>'
{"code":200,"data":{"configs":[{"eid":"890<REDACTED>","iccid":"8910<REDACTED>","name":"iphone11SE","status":"SUCCESS"}]},"error":"","success":true}
The SM-DP URL should be pushed to each device from within the MDM.
With the CSV data above, Celona will automatically select an available eSIM and assign provided Device Name.
JAMF MDM Profile on Apple iPhone 11 SE
Celona eSIM activated on Apple iPhone 11 SE, as “Personal”. The name of the cellular network can be updated to a custom value, for example “Celona”.
Please reach out to support@celona.io in case of any additional questions.