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User profile for user: Dekamundo
Dekamundo Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Has SoftwareUpdate changed between 10.8 and 10.8.2 ?

When 10.8 was released I configured an OS X Server and upgraded all my all the other macs in my home to 10.8 as well.

I configured all clients using the documented "http://su.domain_name.com:8088/index.sucatalog" equivalent entry into the defaults file using

"sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL URL" and pointed all to the new server as primary DNS.The Server is only running DNS and SoftwareUpdate services.


All was good and worked as hoped.


Now I am getting a different behaviour, and not sure what I am missing or what has changed:


  • All client machines still "pointing" to my server.
  • The list of available software updates each client is reporting is congruent with what has been downloaded and enabled on the Server. (Tested this by disabling, refreshing etc, and its definitely getting the list from the local server).
  • The Software Updates panel in the App Store lists my local server as the "Source:"
  • BUT when I select a specific update on the client (eg iPhoto) it seems to ignore the version on the server and starts to download it via the internet again.


I have :

  • tried 3 different clients, and 4 different updates(double-checking the version numbers, and that they are enabled on Server)
  • checked that OS X Server software is iteself current (2.1.1)
  • tried Disabling/Enabling the update on Server.
  • tried software update via the command line as well.


Any suggestions as to where I may be missing the plot ?


Thanks.


Forgot to mention that server and all clients now running 10.8.2

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Nov 8, 2012 1:07 AM

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32 replies
User profile for user: desono
desono
User level: Level 1
0 points

Nov 28, 2012 11:23 AM in response to michalmaria

Desono here. Our updates started working once the server finished uploading every update that it found. Prior to that the clients would just error out. We also had to redirect the clients to the local update server using the terminal commands found in other threads... "sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences.... etc..."


Seems to be working fine now. Now I'm on to other maddeningly frustrating tasks. After updating all 18 of our clients to Mountain Lion, every administrator account lost all of its permissions. Now the admin can't even open System Preferences... Like to be done with all of this....

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User profile for user: Michael Wüthrich
Michael Wüthrich
User level: Level 1
5 points

Nov 29, 2012 4:48 AM in response to michalmaria

@michalmaria: both!

  • I have os-x 10.7.5 Server with 10.7.5 clients bound to it (using workgroup manager)
  • I have os-x 10.8.2 Server with 10.8.2 clients bound to it (using workgroup manager and profile manager in combination)

Update from server works in the 10.7.5 setup - does not work (anymore) in the 10.8.2 setup.


I just tried a client with 10.7.4 (tested with 10.7.5 Server - works fine) and made it unmanaged client pointing for the Software Update to the 10.8.2 Server. IT DOES NOT WORK. It does not list any updates but displays the error


"Der Softwareaktualisierungsserver (name of server) antwortet nicht" which is in english: the update server is not answering.


The Protokoll at the 10.8.2 server shows the attempt of the client in the logs:


Error Log:


  • Thu Nov 29 13:29:56 2012] [error] [client 10.207.1.61] Nov 29 13:29:56 xserve-mini.mydomain.local SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog[63185] <Debug>: REQUEST FOR CATALOG: /index-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog
  • [Thu Nov 29 13:29:56 2012] [error] [client 10.207.1.61] Nov 29 13:29:56 xserve-mini.mydomain.local SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog[63185] <Debug>: HTTP HOST: xserve-mini.mydomain.local:8088
  • [Thu Nov 29 13:29:56 2012] [error] [client 10.207.1.61] Nov 29 13:29:56 xserve-mini.mydomain.local SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog[63185] <Debug>: DOCUMENT ROOT: /Library/Server/Software Update/Data/html
  • [Thu Nov 29 13:29:56 2012] [error] [client 10.207.1.61] Nov 29 13:29:56 xserve-mini.mydomain.local SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog[63185] <Debug>: LINES WRITTEN: 0

Access log:

  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:00:14 +0100] 80 GET "/index.sucatalog" 302 410 "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:00:14 +0100] 80 GET "/cgi-bin/SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog" 200 - "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:00:46 +0100] 80 GET "/index.sucatalog" 302 410 "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:00:46 +0100] 80 GET "/cgi-bin/SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog" 200 - "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:04:09 +0100] 80 GET "/index.sucatalog" 302 410 "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:04:09 +0100] 80 GET "/cgi-bin/SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog" 200 - "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:05:05 +0100] 80 GET "/index.sucatalog" 302 410 "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:05:05 +0100] 80 GET "/cgi-bin/SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog" 200 - "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:10:06 +0100] 80 GET "/index.sucatalog" 302 410 "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:10:06 +0100] 80 GET "/cgi-bin/SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog" 200 - "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:10:26 +0100] 80 GET "/index.sucatalog" 302 410 "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:10:26 +0100] 80 GET "/cgi-bin/SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog" 200 - "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:10:37 +0100] 80 GET "/index.sucatalog" 302 410 "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:10:37 +0100] 80 GET "/cgi-bin/SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog" 200 - "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:14:20 +0100] 80 GET "/index.sucatalog" 302 410 "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:14:20 +0100] 80 GET "/cgi-bin/SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog" 200 - "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:16:47 +0100] 80 GET "/index.sucatalog" 302 410 "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:16:47 +0100] 80 GET "/cgi-bin/SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog" 200 - "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:21:44 +0100] 80 GET "/index.sucatalog" 302 410 "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:12:21:44 +0100] 80 GET "/cgi-bin/SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog" 200 - "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:13:29:56 +0100] 80 GET "/index.sucatalog" 302 410 "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
  • 10.207.1.61 - - [29/Nov/2012:13:29:56 +0100] 80 GET "/cgi-bin/SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog" 200 - "-" "Softwareaktualisierung/359 CFNetwork/520.4.3 Darwin/11.4.0 (i386) (MacBook4%2C1)"
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User profile for user: michalmaria
michalmaria
User level: Level 1
9 points

Nov 29, 2012 5:11 AM in response to Michael Wüthrich

Michael, I'm afraid you have a different situation there. I do not get any errors from the App Store.app. The error message means, that the App Store.app is unable to connect to your catalog, which is being served using a SUS-specific instance of Apache. All sorts of things can go wrong here. But if I do request the correct file (http://hostname:8088/cgi-bin/SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog?/index-mountainlion- lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog) via a browser I do get it. You may try the same, just replace the hostname in that link. If it doesn't work, there's something else at work. It may be DNS, it may be your port configuration, firewall, etc, etc. (But it should work if have not tweaked the server in some unexpected way…)


desono, thanks for the reply. What you have said points again to a different situation. Of course, until swupd_sync finishes it job there may be such problems (especially when there's some corruption in the catalog). I have pointed my clients to the server via the defaults command as well. (But have tried it with WGM also — I don't want to start the Profile Manager, as I don't need it.)


Fred, thanks for the information. I also start to think more about the 10.8.2 client App Store.app as the culprit. Although that would make things worse (as there's very little what one can do about it) and it also doesn't explain why it does work for desono. It seems, he does have Automatic mode turned on with SUS. Do you have it turned on as well? I'm using a different config now:

swupdate:autoMirror = yes

swupdate:autoMirrorOnlyNew = yes

swupdate:autoEnable = no

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User profile for user: Michael Wüthrich
Michael Wüthrich
User level: Level 1
5 points

Nov 29, 2012 5:41 AM in response to michalmaria

michalmaria:

  1. There is an update of Thunderbolt Firmware Update 1.1 for the MacBook Pro (mid 2012) ready (27.11.2012).
  2. I am affraid my situation is no different. I was just pointing out that a 10.7.4 client cannot acces the Updates on the 10.8.2 Server ... I do not know as if this is any hint for our problem. Can anyone else acces a 10.8.2 SUS from an 10.7 client?
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User profile for user: michalmaria
michalmaria
User level: Level 1
9 points

Nov 29, 2012 6:32 AM in response to Michael Wüthrich

Michael, thanks for the clarification. Unfortunately I do not have a corresponding MacBook, we have only iMacs here (and unfortunately the only one with Lion is currently in repair). Fred was saying that the server works with older clients and this is a 10.8.2 specific problem. Your situation could show that there is a wider problem at play.

BTW: I also did let Apple know via the feedback page (though I still want to test a few things before I submit a bug report via ADC). And I gave them a link to this thread, hopefully someone from the server team will take a look here.

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User profile for user: Michael Wüthrich
Michael Wüthrich
User level: Level 1
5 points

Nov 29, 2012 7:31 AM in response to Michael Wüthrich

michalmaria:

I can access the website on the SuS Server (10.8.2) from a browser of my 10.7 client (as you indicate above)!

BUT

I get the error when I use Software Update Programm of my unmanaged 10.7 client using the standard path (eg.:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL http://hostname:8088/index.sucatalog)

It works using:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL http://hostname:8088/cgi-bin/SoftwareUpdateServerGetCatalog?/index-mountainlion- lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog

with this setting it downloads the updates from my server (not over the internet)


But doing the same thing with a 10.8.2 Client does not work! eg downloads the updates over the internet


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User profile for user: Fred Turner
Fred Turner
User level: Level 1
89 points

Nov 29, 2012 11:30 AM in response to michalmaria

michalmaria wrote:


Fred, thanks for the information. I also start to think more about the 10.8.2 client App Store.app as the culprit. Although that would make things worse (as there's very little what one can do about it) and it also doesn't explain why it does work for desono. It seems, he does have Automatic mode turned on with SUS. Do you have it turned on as well? I'm using a different config now:

swupdate:autoMirror = yes

swupdate:autoMirrorOnlyNew = yes

swupdate:autoEnable = no


We seem to be discussing more than one Software Update/SUS issue here, but I believe the one the OP is referring to is definitely a problem w/ the App Store program on 10.8.2 clients. You're right-- there's very little we can do about it, but I think we'll be good to go again when 10.8.3 is released. Don't ask me how I know... ;-) I'll try to do more testing, and post back when I can.


Fred


P.S. Looks like iTunes 11 is available now, and can be added to my 10.6 SUS as well.

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User profile for user: michalmaria
michalmaria
User level: Level 1
9 points

Nov 30, 2012 7:51 AM in response to Fred Turner

Fred Turner wrote:

We seem to be discussing more than one Software Update/SUS issue here,

I do agree. The experience is not consistent for everyone.

When it comes to me, I gave up. It really seems, that the client does not care about the CatalogURL, but rather gives preference to Apple's servers no matter what you try to do with the server (or client). One more interesting fact: The softwareupdate utility (which you can use in Terminal) behaves exactly the same. I don't know how it's related to the App Store.app, but whatever… I did noticed the 10.8.3 beta… well, maybe Apple will do their homework…


The only workaround for me now is: wait past office hours, shutdown the internet router, enable new updates on the server, use softwareupdate on clients remotely, startup the router. It's a bit rough, but it works for now…

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User profile for user: Bi-noix
Bi-noix
User level: Level 1
5 points

Dec 7, 2012 3:14 AM in response to michalmaria

Has anyone been able to test updates with Server 2.2 ?


I guess the new "Caching Service" may be linked with our issues.

It seems there was a note in the developer seed of Server 2.2 (http://www.macg.co/news/voir/257522/os-x-server-bientot-un-nouveau-systeme-de-ca che-pour-les-mises-a-jour in french, sorry for that) reading that this caching service includes a automated fallback system for the software update to be completely transparent for users, shoud they be in several locations.


Does anyone with dev or beta access have more information ?


Regards

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User profile for user: gpco gsx
gpco gsx
User level: Level 1
40 points

Dec 7, 2012 12:17 PM in response to Dekamundo

Just for the record:


Mac mini Server (Mid 2010) OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2


All of the clients from 10.4.x to 10.7.x download the updates from the local server, clients with 10.8.x download some updates from local and others from the internet.


I'm just updating right now the Server.app, hoping it solves the issue.


I always have clients needing updates (Apple Service Provider) so I will report back ASAP.

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Has SoftwareUpdate changed between 10.8 and 10.8.2 ?

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