t.pawelek

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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Q: Mavericks Caching Server Doesn't Work

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  • by BobF4321,

    BobF4321 BobF4321 Nov 5, 2013 10:41 AM in response to shuether
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Pay
    Nov 5, 2013 10:41 AM in response to shuether

    shuether wrote:

     

    My only thought at this point is maybe the fact that my ISP isn't giving me a static IP is causing problems? The IP hasnt changed in months but technically its a dynamic IP. Might try moving my server to a static IP and seeing what happens.

     

    I doubt if dynamic IPs are the problem.  According to the server Debug.log, the caching server renews its registration with Apple about once an hour, and reports the current external IP address each time.

  • by alexrmc92,

    alexrmc92 alexrmc92 Nov 5, 2013 10:50 AM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 1 (60 points)
    Nov 5, 2013 10:50 AM in response to t.pawelek

    t.pawelek wrote:

     

    It is not the firewall. As I already said multiple times, server registers with Apple just fine, but then the clients do not receive instructions (again - from Apple) to talk to local server when attempting an update.

     

    So at this stage we ruled out the following suspects:

     

    - NAT (doesn't harm caching service),

    - Firewall (has nothing to do with LAN communication),

    - DNS (doesn't seem to be affecting the service in any way, Apple should return lan IP (not the hostname) for the clients to talk to caching server)

     

    I'm still at square one

     

    @Simon Comeau Maretl: We have a network of offices that spans across 3 continents (including US)... so I can vpn myself out to the Internet anywhere I want. Our main business Apple ID is US. I can try and play with the location of my external IP, but I can't recall a single time when Apple restricted access to any services using geo-localisation of customer's IPs.

     

    @jcouani: Can you kindly confirm if you're using Australian Apple ID?

     

    Yes it can still be the firewall, You said the clients do not receive anything from apple. How do you know that the firewall isn't blocking the incomming connection to the clients.

     

    This happens all of the time with remote IP phones. The IP phone sends out a server request on port XXXX but the server replies on port YYYY so the firewall blocks traffic to the client. on port YYYY as it doesn't look like the client initiated the connection, even though it did.

  • by t.pawelek,

    t.pawelek t.pawelek Nov 5, 2013 10:54 AM in response to alexrmc92
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2013 10:54 AM in response to alexrmc92

    MYSTERY SOLVED

     

    After exchanging a couple of emails with Mavericks Server feedback team, they confirmed the following:

     

    1) Caching will only work, if the Apple ID of the client is from the same country as the external IP, which is being used to access Internet.

    2) There is a list of 5 countries, which are banned from Caching. I forgot to ask, which countries these are...

     

    So yeah, kudos to those of you who mentioned matching countries. I guess it's time for me to play with our corporate VPN a little bit more...

  • by BobF4321,

    BobF4321 BobF4321 Nov 5, 2013 11:15 AM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Pay
    Nov 5, 2013 11:15 AM in response to t.pawelek

    Thanks for the info.  I have tried with both US and Canada AppleIDs on my clients... neither works.  I live in Canada, on Rogers Cable, and my external IP network is registered in Canada.  So maybe Canada is on the banned list?  Highly unlikely, because Canada usually has most-favored nation status when it comes to things like export restrictions, cryptography, etc.   Anyway, I'm going to ask the server team myself.

  • by chugues,

    chugues chugues Nov 5, 2013 12:19 PM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2013 12:19 PM in response to t.pawelek

    Hello t.pawelek, could you ask the Mavericks Server feedback about the countries which are banned from Caching.

    I live in French Polynesia and I have the same problems than you and after reading your post I'm very disappointed about Apple that Caching will only work with the Apple ID/external IP of the country. My Apple ID is for the French Apple Store but our IP is assimilated with an Australia ISP (South Pacific Region).

    Can I have contact or email address of the Mavericks Server feedback please, I would like to ask them some questions too ?

    Regards,

  • by jcouani,

    jcouani jcouani Nov 5, 2013 1:59 PM in response to alexrmc92
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2013 1:59 PM in response to alexrmc92

    Hi [@jcouani here]

    Mine is an AppleID, created on my Australian email address [hosted in the UK apparently], via the Australian Apple website. iTunes reports that it is an Australian AppleID in the AppleID summary. My ISP would be considered Australian, although its a South African company.

    All seems a bit silly.

     

    Also

    My OSX server has a fixed IP within my private network here. Externally the IP addresses are handled by the ISP and do change regularly. My setup is working with OSX and iOS updates being cached, but I'll keep an eye out for glitches.

  • by chugues,

    chugues chugues Nov 5, 2013 2:46 PM in response to jcouani
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2013 2:46 PM in response to jcouani

    Hi jcouani, your setup works good for you. But you said OSX and iOS updates ... what do you mean ? Apps you bought in Appstore ou Mac Appstore or iTunes contents ? or for the operating system software updates (like iTunes software which just be updated to 11.1.3).

     

    Thank you.

  • by t.pawelek,

    t.pawelek t.pawelek Nov 5, 2013 3:05 PM in response to chugues
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2013 3:05 PM in response to chugues

    @chugues: I simply selected a "Feedback" option from the Server app's menu and shared all my griefs that way.

     

    To sum it up: it's really bad news. In modern world, where borders don't mean much, this move by Apple is totally killing OS X Server for us

  • by chugues,

    chugues chugues Nov 5, 2013 3:13 PM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2013 3:13 PM in response to t.pawelek

    Ok thank you t.pawelek.

     

    In fact, Cache server works for me too but it only caches OSX updates not the apps bought in Mac App Store. For iOS, nothing is cached. But the recent AppleTV update was cached by my server. So I will just say that it just works but not as we hope ... LOL !!!

  • by jcouani,

    jcouani jcouani Nov 5, 2013 4:22 PM in response to chugues
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2013 4:22 PM in response to chugues

    chugues wrote:

     

    Hi jcouani, your setup works good for you. But you said OSX and iOS updates ... what do you mean ? Apps you bought in Appstore ou Mac Appstore or iTunes contents ? or for the operating system software updates (like iTunes software which just be updated to 11.1.3).

     

    Thank you.

    I've only been trying this out for the last week or so, so no iOS system updates yet. I'm a noob too.

    But iOS app updates are going thru the Cache service.

     

    Based on the bar graph in the Caching Service pane

    MacApps - 3.61gb

    iOSApps - 848.7mb

    Books - 0

    Other - 51.7 [dont know what that might be]

     

    Testing it out with iTunes 11.1.3, and that was successfully installed on Mac#1

     

    Unfortuntely the server log is only from 6 Nov [today - dont know why that cleared] and doesnt include the download of iTunes11.1.3, timewise

     

    Mac#2 downloaded iTunes 11.1.3 quite quickly, no log record again strangely. Restarted the caching server, logged.

     

    Trying a few more updates [1.2gb worth] to see if they're logged in Caching Server log, or System Log…

     

    Before downloading these updates MacApps was 3.61gb, after 4.86gb, iTunes and Voice updates

    Not noted in the Caching Service log, but this from System Log [I assume CS is Caching Service]. Means not much to me other than "somethings happening"

     

    Nov  6 11:08:38 maximus.private sandboxd[117] ([68797]): collabpp(68797) deny mach-lookup com.apple.coreservices.launchservicesd

    Nov  6 11:09:08 --- last message repeated 6 times ---

    Nov  6 11:10:41 maximus.private collabd[463]: [CSUserSessionServiceBase.m:48 22156000 +0ms] Detected Magic Superuser Auth Token

    Nov  6 11:10:41 maximus.private collabd[463]: [CSUserSessionServiceBase.m:48 22156000 +0ms] Detected Magic Superuser Auth Token

    Nov  6 11:10:42 maximus.private collabd[463]: [CSServiceDispatcher.m:247 22156000 +0ms] Request pulled in 87 referenced objects

    Nov  6 11:10:42 maximus.private collabd[463]: [CSUserSessionServiceBase.m:48 22156000 +0ms] Detected Magic Superuser Auth Token

    Nov  6 11:13:36 maximus collabpp[69082]: objc[69082]: Class CSArchive is implemented in both /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/C SService.framework/Versions/A/CSService and /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/collabpp. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.

     

     

    I hope this helps someone.

    PS - maximus.private is the server local host name

  • by nicolasbisi,

    nicolasbisi nicolasbisi Nov 7, 2013 1:42 PM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 7, 2013 1:42 PM in response to t.pawelek

    Just an update.

    As t.pawelek said, apple really use the location.

    Played a little with vpn and my never working cache service started to work like magic.

    I have an american account and do not live in USA.

  • by t.pawelek,

    t.pawelek t.pawelek Nov 7, 2013 1:54 PM in response to nicolasbisi
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 7, 2013 1:54 PM in response to nicolasbisi

    We have one office in the US, one in Panama and one in Spain... as you can imagine, it's those remote locations that NEED caching the most. We can actually reroute the traffic through our corportate VPN to hit the Internet via our US location, but I somehow have to capture those update request...

     

    @nicolasbisi: did you do selective routing or are you simply sending everything via VPN?

     

    At the moment it seems to me that looking for *phobos-apple* in the DNS cache might be the key. We use a similar trick to capture and reroute all youtube traffic: every 10 mins we go through our router's DNS cache and add all the IPs with *youtube.com to a list, which is then used in firewall rules to mark the traffic. Maybe it would work with apple updates - who knows.

     

    I'll keep you guys posted.

  • by nicolasbisi,

    nicolasbisi nicolasbisi Nov 7, 2013 1:56 PM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 7, 2013 1:56 PM in response to t.pawelek

    @t.pawelek I send everything via vpn.

  • by jcouani,

    jcouani jcouani Nov 8, 2013 1:59 AM in response to t.pawelek
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 8, 2013 1:59 AM in response to t.pawelek

    Hi Folks

    Hope it's getting there for you!

    I hope these aren't off-topic…

     

    Couple more questions

    It occurred to me, although mine is amassing the cache, how can I tell that the next Mac (or iOS device) is accessing the cache instead of going to Apple's central Software Update server?

    Is there a terminal command or log entry which will tell me?

    Is there a terminal command to force computers to look at the Caching Service. a la Software Update?

     

    In iTunes when apps are downloaded there's often an "error -1003" even though the download happens anyway. Software Update doesn't complain.

    Looking elsewhere there doesn't seem to be relevance for this error and the Caching Service. Looking to clarify.

     

    I thought I might look in the Caching Service folder - is that not a good idea?, I think it's root user access only.

     

    AND (Last one)

    Is it possible for the server itself to use the Caching Service to update its own software? I know with Software Update that was considered a no-no.

     

    Thanx

  • by jcouani,

    jcouani jcouani Nov 8, 2013 2:01 AM in response to jcouani
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 8, 2013 2:01 AM in response to jcouani

    Meant to say, in relation to the logging, that the Caching Service doesn't report much beside Start and Stop, hence the question re "how can I tell?"

     

    KTHX

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