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10.6.7 SUS Doesn't Respond to Client Macs

Hello,


I have a 10.6.7 Server running SUS and 14 iMacs bound to it over a gigabit connection. The iMacs are grouped together into a common computer group in Workgroup Manager "Administration". This group has the preference for Software Update configured to check: http://server.net:8088/index.suscatalog where server.net is the DNS name for my server. (I have attempted just trying the static IP address). The problem is when the iMacs go to check for updates they all return a message that the server stopped responding. In the SUS Access logs I can see the attempts at updating but no other information as to why the service was denied. I have included a few of the access logs (they all pretty much look the same). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


SUS Access Logs:


192.168.X.X - - [09/Apr/2011:12:51:57 -0700] 80 GET "/index.suscatalog" 404 287 "-" "Software%20Update/258.1 CFNetwork/454.9.7 Darwin/10.4.1 (i386) (iMac11%2C2)"

192.168.X.X - - [09/Apr/2011:12:58:41 -0700] 80 GET "/index.suscatalog" 404 287 "-" "Software%20Update/258.1 CFNetwork/454.9.7 Darwin/10.4.1 (i386) (iMac11%2C2)"

192.168.X.X - - [09/Apr/2011:14:01:37 -0700] 80 GET "/index.suscatalog" 404 287 "-" "Software%20Update (unknown version) CFNetwork/454.9.7 Darwin/10.4.1 (i386) (iMac11%2C2)"

192.168.X.X - - [13/Apr/2011:14:13:31 -0700] 80 GET "/index.suscatalog" 404 287 "-" "Software%20Update (unknown version) CFNetwork/454.11.5 Darwin/10.5.0 (i386) (iMac8%2C1)"

192.168.X.X - - [20/Apr/2011:14:13:31 -0700] 80 GET "/index.suscatalog" 404 287 "-" "Software%20Update (unknown version) CFNetwork/454.11.5 Darwin/10.5.0 (i386) (iMac8%2C1)"


Thank you.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Apr 27, 2011 9:55 AM

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Posted on Apr 27, 2011 10:12 AM

Hehe... I wrestled with this one for a long time. Long, LONG time. The problem lies in your servers address and path.


If you want to use WGM to manage your clients, then the address is:

http://server.example.com:8088/index-leopard-snowleopard.merged-1.sucatalog


Of course, replace server.example.com with yours.


If you're running 10.6.7 server, and you don't want to use WGM to manage your clients then on your clients you need to run the following command in terminal.


sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL http://server.example.com:8088/index-leopard-snowleopard.merged-1.sucatalog


That command starts with sudo and ends with sucatalog I suggest you copy and paste it to make sure it's correct. Also, replace server.example.com with your server DN.

You must run this as root for the changes to take effect and hold after a client restart.


Beware that from now on your clients will only look to your software update server for updates.


Of course this is all assuming that your SUS has all the updates working and that your DNS is set up properly.

12 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Apr 27, 2011 10:12 AM in response to Trbl_Shooter

Hehe... I wrestled with this one for a long time. Long, LONG time. The problem lies in your servers address and path.


If you want to use WGM to manage your clients, then the address is:

http://server.example.com:8088/index-leopard-snowleopard.merged-1.sucatalog


Of course, replace server.example.com with yours.


If you're running 10.6.7 server, and you don't want to use WGM to manage your clients then on your clients you need to run the following command in terminal.


sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL http://server.example.com:8088/index-leopard-snowleopard.merged-1.sucatalog


That command starts with sudo and ends with sucatalog I suggest you copy and paste it to make sure it's correct. Also, replace server.example.com with your server DN.

You must run this as root for the changes to take effect and hold after a client restart.


Beware that from now on your clients will only look to your software update server for updates.


Of course this is all assuming that your SUS has all the updates working and that your DNS is set up properly.

Apr 28, 2011 10:17 PM in response to gracoat

As advised by gracoat above, changing the path to http://server.example.com:8088/index-leopard-snowleopard.merged-1.sucatalog resolved the issue I was having with my clients being unable to get their updates. It makes me feel a little better that I was not the only who was banging my head against the wall on this one! Thank you for your assistance!

Jun 2, 2011 2:53 PM in response to Jim @ MacFactory

Hi,


i have 10.6.7 server running, all the software updates are loaded into SUS and all my clients are bound to the server.


I'm using the preference pane method of connecting to SUS, rather than setting it up manually.


The clients DO check my local server, i'm not running DNS serving, so i use the IP address:


http://192.168.1.12:8088/index.sucatalog


as per the 10.6.7 fix mentioned above.


none of my clients will get any updates from the server... i get the 'Your Software is up to date' message with something ghosted out in the background...


i know there are updates required... i even installed a fresh 10.6 client and then bound it to the server, again, same message...


it seems a lot of people have had this problem... does anyone have a real fix ????



thanks!

Jun 2, 2011 5:23 PM in response to webcat

I'm having the same problem.

Server is running 10.6.7 and I have a computer bound to OD (by IP address) and AD.

It is getting the SUS settings but saying no updates are available.

However in the background the window says there are updates and has the buttons there to click install or show details etc they just aren't clickable and when you click ok to the no updates message it of course disappears.


There are definitely updates ready to go out and there are enabled.


I have tried pointing it to the snow leopard-merged etc catalog as well but I still get the same problem.


Setting up this Mac server is a nightmare filled with workarounds...

Jun 2, 2011 5:43 PM in response to pheonix_007

Goodness gracious!


Two things.... One of the awesome things about webservers, OS X or otherwise is that you can set up aliases. This means that you can type server.example.com/thisismypage.html - and the server will automatically point this at server.apple.com/foldera/folderb/folderc/foldere/thisismypage.html.


Very cool.

This is probably something that Apple has appended to the apache configuration file. It makes it easier for us lay-peeps to configure our software update server.


The problem is that, the guy that updated it at apple probably overlooked any dns, or lack-thereof, sensitivities that SUS may have.


The second thing.

I'm thinking that if the updates are grey'd out then you probably aren't logged in as an administrator?

If you are, verify the problem by running the software update process in root mode.


This is not a workaround, it's a troubleshooting process. A workaround would be to write a script that manually downloaded the software updates from the repository on the server and installed them individually.

That said.... Don't be afraid!


In terminal -

sudo softwareupdate -list


See what it says. If there's of items that show up, type:

sudo softwareupdate -ia


This will install all updates. If this works, then it's a problem with your users administrator-ness.


You may need to figure out why your admin user doesn't have install access.

Write more. This is a pretty easy thing to troubleshoot with some patience and knowledge.


-Graham

Jun 2, 2011 7:22 PM in response to gracoat

The updates isn't so much greyed out. They are in the background. The "Your software is up to date" windows is in the foreground with only the option to press quit.

The computer is definitely not up to date and the updates it needs are enabled on the server.


I am running it as a network admin and local admin.


Doing "sudo softwareupdate -l" just said there are no updates.

Jun 2, 2011 10:46 PM in response to pheonix_007

It's probably the links / URLs the SUS provides that the client machines can't "resolve" / use to find the server.


If you connect from a client using:http://192.168.1.12:8088/catlogs.sucatalog and you see what the server think it's name is / was when you setup the SUS.

If the SUS clients can't find the server using those URLs they ofcourse can't get at any updates.

Jun 5, 2011 4:02 PM in response to pheonix_007

Open Console on your client Mac and see if the softwareupdate process is generating any error messages. I believe they will be written to the system.log.


I had a similar problem where I couldn't get updates from my Mac mini running OS X Server 10.6.7. It turned out that the Computer Name in Server Preferences - Information was not set to match my DNS name, and this was enough to screw up my software update clients even while using a numerical IP address. I had to use the changeip command to get my server's addresses set properly. The following article was helpful to me:


http://maymay.net/blog/2007/09/19/changing-the-hostname-on-mac-os-x-server/


Also I am using the unified "defaults write" command in HT4069 and it has been working fine for 10.5 and 10.6 client machines.

10.6.7 SUS Doesn't Respond to Client Macs

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