rsharma55

Q: Can I use Lion server to push updates to my mac clients

Hi Everyone,

 

I was wondering if I can run Lion server and use my clients (OS X ranging from 10.5 to 10.7) to pull updates from this server instead from Apple. Is it easy to setup Mac Update server?

 

Thanks,

Posted on Sep 6, 2011 7:57 AM

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Q: Can I use Lion server to push updates to my mac clients

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  • by Mr Beardsley,Helpful

    Mr Beardsley Mr Beardsley Sep 6, 2011 8:22 AM in response to rsharma55
    Level 1 (40 points)
    Sep 6, 2011 8:22 AM in response to rsharma55

    You can indeed.  You need to download the additional server tools from Apple.  You can then use Server Admin to setup the software update service.  This will mirror all the updates from Apple on your server.  The last piece of the puzzle is to use Profile Manager to change your clients to use the URL of your local server instead of direct from Apple.

  • by rsharma55,

    rsharma55 rsharma55 Sep 6, 2011 9:34 AM in response to Mr Beardsley
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Sep 6, 2011 9:34 AM in response to Mr Beardsley

    Hi Mr Beardsley,

     

    Thank you for quick reply.

     

    I thought that profile manager only worked for lion clients not for any earlier versions.

     

    Can I use ARD to send a simple command to re-direct all the clients to this new server?

     

    Can I create some sort policy on server which will automatically install all these updates?

     

    Thanks,

  • by Mr Beardsley,

    Mr Beardsley Mr Beardsley Sep 6, 2011 9:08 PM in response to rsharma55
    Level 1 (40 points)
    Sep 6, 2011 9:08 PM in response to rsharma55

    Sorry, I completely disregarded the older clients.  In that case instead of using profile manager you can make a computer group in Workgroup Manager and then use Managed Preferences to change the swupdate url for those machines in the group.

  • by jguther,

    jguther jguther Sep 8, 2011 3:56 AM in response to rsharma55
    Level 1 (145 points)
    Sep 8, 2011 3:56 AM in response to rsharma55

    There is a simple way for unmanaged clients.

     

    To point an unmanaged client to your update server, enter the following command in terminal:

     

    sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL http://<your_server>:8088/index-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog

     

    (replace <your_server> with the dns name of your update server.  If the unmanaged client runs snowleopard or leopard, adjust the url accordingly. For snowleopard clients, remove the "lion-" part. For leopard clients, remove the "lion-snowleopard-" part

  • by Wannes Van Loock,

    Wannes Van Loock Wannes Van Loock Sep 10, 2011 5:11 AM in response to jguther
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Sep 10, 2011 5:11 AM in response to jguther

    See this knowledgebase article : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4771

  • by DOLAdmin,

    DOLAdmin DOLAdmin Apr 5, 2012 12:32 PM in response to Mr Beardsley
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 5, 2012 12:32 PM in response to Mr Beardsley

    Mr Beardsley: With great interest I read; "...The last piece of the puzzle is to use Profile Manager to change your clients to use the URL of your local server instead of direct from Apple".

     

    Can you tell me where exactly in Profile Manager this is done?

     

    Thanks

  • by DOLAdmin,

    DOLAdmin DOLAdmin Apr 9, 2012 8:31 AM in response to DOLAdmin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 9, 2012 8:31 AM in response to DOLAdmin

    Found it.  Profile Manager/Profile Settings under the Mac OS Category - left hand pane..