t.pawelek
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Mavericks Caching Server Doesn't Work

Hey Everyone,

 

So I upgraded to 10.9, which is great, purchased the new Server, which is great and no matter what I do I can't get it to work. Which is not so great.

 

Here's the story:

 

1) Clean install of 10.9 on 2013 mac mini. Multiple times in fact.

 

2) Install OS > Configure Network (fixed eth ip) > Disable Wifi > Set Hostname > Configure App Store ID > Download Server > Install Server > Enable Caching.

 

3) Server is not a gateway and is connected directly to the LAN with a fixed IP (via time capsule). External IP confirmed to be the same between Server logs and the clients. Power saving is disabled (mini is on 24/7). Firewall is disabled.

 

4) Multiple clients running latest OSX / iOS. All using the same Apple ID as the Server. Tried some clients with a different ID from the same region (US) and from a different region (EU).

 

5) No matter what I do, the only stuff that's being cached is the system updates (itunes / codecs / etc.). Not a single OSX / iOS app is being cached.

 

6) Tried a variety of .plist changes, increased the log verbosity. No errors in Debug.log: normal registration, etc. But not a single OSX / iOS app is being cached. Downloading apps on clients doesn't do anything (i.e. doesn't spawn a single line of log), even with logging = verbose. Restarting the services doesn't reveal any issues, just a regular registration every single time.

 

7) Asked Apple for help, they asked for log files and remain silent since then (couple of days now).

 

I wasted so much time on this already. I'd be really grateful if anyone pointed me in the right direction (other than a wall with a "bang head here" poster).

Posted on Oct 27, 2013 2:35 AM

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t.pawelek

Q: Mavericks Caching Server Doesn't Work

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  • by MrHoffman,

    MrHoffman MrHoffman Oct 28, 2013 3:26 PM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 6 (15,627 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 28, 2013 3:26 PM in response to t.pawelek

    Possibly a stupid or unrelated question, but I've seen errant DNS services causing more than a few cases of weird...  Is local LAN-based DNS running, and does the diagnostic command sudo changeip -checkhostname issued on the server report that no network changes are required?

  • by designev,

    designev designev Oct 28, 2013 4:06 PM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 28, 2013 4:06 PM in response to t.pawelek

    Yeah I'm seeing a mismatch on the hostname, but we have had about 700MB's of Mac App data download successfully. We're just not getting any iOS app data downloading.

  • by t.pawelek,

    t.pawelek t.pawelek Oct 28, 2013 4:13 PM in response to MrHoffman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 28, 2013 4:13 PM in response to MrHoffman

    I'm getting the following message:

     

    The DNS hostname is not available, please repair DNS and re-run this tool.

     

    Do you think this might be related to my issue? I can actually give it a FQDN and try...

  • by t.pawelek,

    t.pawelek t.pawelek Oct 28, 2013 4:43 PM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 28, 2013 4:43 PM in response to t.pawelek

    OK, I went ahead and tried setting up a proper hostname:

     

    - mini - my server (with caching on)

    - tmp-imac - a sample client

     

    On my client:

     

    tmp-imac:~ tompaw$ host 10.34.1.51

    51.1.34.10.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer mini.lan.tompaw.net.

    tmp-imac:~ tompaw$ host mini.lan.tompaw.net

    mini.lan.tompaw.net has address 10.34.1.51

     

    On my server:

     

    mini:~ tompaw$ tail -n 9 /Library/Server/Caching/Logs/Debug.log

    2013/10/29 00:31:23:057  Cleaning cache

    2013/10/29 00:31:23:206  Cleanup succeeded.

    2013/10/29 00:31:23:206  Registering for notifications

    2013/10/29 00:31:23:209  Registering for service

    2013/10/29 00:31:24:918  Registering with local address: 10.34.1.51

    2013/10/29 00:31:25:194  Request for registration from https://lcdn-registration.apple.com/lcdn/register succeeded

    2013/10/29 00:31:25:194  Got back public IP 81.38.xxx.xxx

    2013/10/29 00:31:25:199  Registration succeeded.  Resuming server.

    2013/10/29 00:31:25:199  This server has 0 peer(s)

     

    mini:~ tompaw$ host 10.34.1.51

    51.1.34.10.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer mini.lan.tompaw.net.

    mini:~ tompaw$ host mini.lan.tompaw.net

    mini.lan.tompaw.net has address 10.34.1.51

    mini:~ tompaw$ sudo changeip -checkhostname

    Password:

     

    Primary address     = 10.34.1.51

     

    Current HostName    = mini.lan.tompaw.net

    DNS HostName        = mini.lan.tompaw.net

     

    The names match. There is nothing to change.

    dirserv:success = "success"

     

    Afterwards, I tried updating software on OSX (tmp-imac) and a couple of iOS clients - still no caching. I guess that pretty much rules out DNS as the cause of this issue.

  • by Yosuke Matsumura,

    Yosuke Matsumura Yosuke Matsumura Oct 29, 2013 4:13 AM in response to designev
    Level 1 (19 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 29, 2013 4:13 AM in response to designev

    designev wrote:

     

    We've setup a Caching Server here and it has yet to download any iOS apps. The server has been running for a few days now and multiple iPads have been used to download a whole list of apps/updates. No luck here either.

     

    Interestingly though when you visit Apple's business page, near the bottom it says Caching Server iOS 7 support is still 'coming soon'. Odd.

     

    http://www.apple.com/ios/business/

     

    This makes sense. I have Caching Server up and running and it's been working fine at caching items downloaded via Macs (iTunes, Mac App Store, iBook Store) only. However, any downloads initiated via an iOS device (iPhone or iPad both running iOS 7.0.3) doesn't get cached or read from cache. Checking the debug log shows no activity when initiating any App Store download from iOS.

     

    FWIW, for some reason unchecking the "Only cache content for local networks" improved the reliability of caching. With it enabled, it only cached some of the time. Unsure why it would matter since all machines (2 Macs) are on the same subnet as the server, but it seems to work better with it unchecked. Again, only caching downloads/updates from iTunes/Mac App Store/iBook Store on a Mac.

     

    Screenshot 2013-10-29 07.06.23.png

  • by raimattern,

    raimattern raimattern Oct 29, 2013 5:48 AM in response to Yosuke Matsumura
    Level 1 (104 points)
    Oct 29, 2013 5:48 AM in response to Yosuke Matsumura

    Bildschirmfoto 2013-10-29 um 13.41.08.png

  • by t.pawelek,

    t.pawelek t.pawelek Oct 29, 2013 5:52 AM in response to raimattern
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 29, 2013 5:52 AM in response to raimattern

    Good for you, guys. No matter what we do, it won't cache a single ios app / book download

  • by raimattern,

    raimattern raimattern Oct 29, 2013 5:59 AM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 1 (104 points)
    Oct 29, 2013 5:59 AM in response to t.pawelek

    In terminal:

     

    sudo serveradmin fullstatus caching
    What's the report ?

     

    Message was edited by: raimattern

  • by BobF4321,

    BobF4321 BobF4321 Oct 29, 2013 6:01 AM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Pay
    Oct 29, 2013 6:01 AM in response to t.pawelek

    Still not working for me either, except for core Mac OS updates.

    I've been trying to get this to work since the new server came out, and my current thinking is that this is a problem in Apple's software distribution servers.  I have turned on verbose logging, and I think this is the way it works: client devices contact the Apple servers to get updates, and the servers check to see if your external IP is registered as having a caching server.  If not, the client is told to download the updates directly from Apple servers.  If there is a caching server registered, the client is told to download the updates from your caching server, using the local network server IP address and port number.  In my case, the verbose server logging shows no contact by clients for Mac App Store or IOS App Store updates, so that means the Apple servers are not redirecting the request to your local caching server.  Unfortunately there is no way that I have found to query the Apple servers for the reason that they are not redirecting the request.  Apple should set up a web site to allow caching server administrators to query the status of their caching server from Apple's side of the connection.

  • by t.pawelek,

    t.pawelek t.pawelek Oct 29, 2013 6:01 AM in response to raimattern
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 29, 2013 6:01 AM in response to raimattern

    caching:Active = yes

    caching:state = "RUNNING"

    caching:CacheUsed = 261525220

    caching:Port = 49543

    caching:TotalBytesRequested = 0

    caching:RegistrationStatus = 1

    caching:CacheLimit = 512172563710

    caching:CacheFree = 511911038490

    caching:Peers = _empty_array

    caching:TotalBytesFromPeers = 0

    caching:StartupStatus = "OK"

    caching:TotalBytesFromOrigin = 0

    caching:CacheStatus = "OK"

    caching:TotalBytesReturned = 0

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:0:BytesUsed = 208661309

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:0:LocalizedType = "Mac Apps"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:0:MediaType = "Mac Apps"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:0:Language = "en"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:1:BytesUsed = 0

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:1:LocalizedType = "iOS Apps"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:1:MediaType = "iOS Apps"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:1:Language = "en"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:2:BytesUsed = 0

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:2:LocalizedType = "Books"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:2:MediaType = "Books"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:2:Language = "en"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:3:BytesUsed = 0

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:3:LocalizedType = "Movies"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:3:MediaType = "Movies"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:3:Language = "en"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:4:BytesUsed = 0

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:4:LocalizedType = "Music"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:4:MediaType = "Music"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:4:Language = "en"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:5:BytesUsed = 52863911

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:5:LocalizedType = "Other"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:5:MediaType = "Other"

    caching:CacheDetails:_array_index:5:Language = "en"

  • by raimattern,

    raimattern raimattern Oct 29, 2013 6:14 AM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 1 (104 points)
    Oct 29, 2013 6:14 AM in response to t.pawelek

    So, as your Caching Services are ok, I still think that there is 'something' between your IOS devices and your OS X Server providing the Caching Services. Maybe a transparent proxy, you don't kow about. Did you designed and implemented your LAN ?

  • by t.pawelek,

    t.pawelek t.pawelek Oct 29, 2013 6:21 AM in response to raimattern
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 29, 2013 6:21 AM in response to raimattern

    Here's a diagram of my LAN:

     

    mini (server) --- TC ))) iOS devices

     

    In other words: NOTHING in between them, only a Time Capsule working as an Access Point in Bridge mode.

  • by Yosuke Matsumura,

    Yosuke Matsumura Yosuke Matsumura Oct 29, 2013 7:35 AM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 1 (19 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 29, 2013 7:35 AM in response to t.pawelek

    @t.pawelek: As designed noted, iOS downloads are not currently cached. If you have other clients on your network which are Macs, they will be cached.

  • by Yosuke Matsumura,

    Yosuke Matsumura Yosuke Matsumura Oct 29, 2013 7:37 AM in response to Yosuke Matsumura
    Level 1 (19 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 29, 2013 7:37 AM in response to Yosuke Matsumura

    ^^ "As *designev noted..."

  • by MrHoffman,

    MrHoffman MrHoffman Oct 29, 2013 10:51 AM in response to designev
    Level 6 (15,627 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 29, 2013 10:51 AM in response to designev

    designev wrote:

     

    Yeah I'm seeing a mismatch on the hostname, but we have had about 700MB's of Mac App data download successfully. We're just not getting any iOS app data downloading.

     

    DNS errors have been a longstanding trigger for weirdness with servers; causing all manner of weirdnesses.

     

    DNS is fundamental to authentication and encryption, as well as to host identification.

     

    Irrespective of the Caching Server, please fix the DNS errors.

     

    When I install an OS X Server, networking is configured and connected first, then I ensure that LAN-local DNS is working (more than a few try using ISP DNS, and that doesn't work right with a NAT'd network), then I look at the rest of the services.  Getting ahead of that sequence causes problems, too; some network services started in an environment with errant DNS can end up being easier to wipe and install OS X Server again.

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