Mavericks Caching Server Doesn't Work

Question

Level 1

9 points

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 2:30 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 27, 2013 5:48 AM in response to t.pawelek

Mavericks Caching Server is working as expected here.

Caching Server requires a NAT-capable firewall, and the same subnet locally, and outbound access to some Apple IP addresses and ports (beware any nanny filters, et al), and a network configuration that's not partitioning the local traffic nor blocking multicasts or mDNS traffic. I'm usually running the WiFi devices configured as APs with the Caching Server on the Gigabit "backbone" network, and that's the way the (working) (prototype) Caching Server configuration is set up.

The Caching Server host should be configured to the same Apple ID across any peer Caching Server hosts, but you're probably not running multiple Caching Servers quite yet.

I'm also running SUS, but that's a parallel cache. If you want OS X patches cached, that's the way to go.

Tweaking with plists seems the wrong direction to me, assuming those files aren't corrupt and a reinstall usually means the files are correct. See if Ethereal / Wireshark or similar tooks can determine if the hosts can "see" each other — there's almost certainly a multicast or subnet broadcast or mDNS service being used here somewhere, and I'd confirm that's being propagated. No, I don't know what the multicast address or mDNS service name is; haven't needed to look at that level of the implementation.

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Answer 2

Oct 27, 2013 6:23 AM in response to t.pawelek

http://help.apple.com/advancedserveradmin/mac/3.0/#apdC36C9994-1533-4DCB-9CFF-87 0CB0FADCDB

The Software Update server caches only Mac updates; the Caching server can cache updates and App Store purchases for Mac computers and iOS devices.

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Answer 3

t.pawelek Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 27, 2013 12:43 PM in response to MrHoffman

It is NOT working as expected. It was advertised as a tool that can cache app purchases/updates, too. Not just the OS updates.

The devices can see each other just fine. I can VNC into the server from all my macs/ipads/etc. Also, iTunes update on all my clients is properly served from the caching server.

For some reason, apps are excluded from caching.

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Answer 4

Oct 27, 2013 1:56 PM in response to t.pawelek

Keep digging in your network configuration...

FWIW...

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Answer 5

t.pawelek Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 27, 2013 2:01 PM in response to MrHoffman

I'd love to keep digging. I just don't know where. My home GW is a RouterBoard with quite an advanced configuration, but... this has NOTHING to do with LAN communication. As far as I understand, the only "external" factor that matters for Caching Service is the public IP used by the server and the clients. Which in my case is the same.

So, leaving Internet apart, my Mac Mini is connected directly to a TC, which works as an AP for all the other devices. There is no network configuration that I am aware of that could come in between them talking to each other. They're all part of the same /24 local network, they're all on the same switch (TC). Mini's firewall is disabled. What else can I look at?

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Answer 6

DRoush

Level 1

4 points

Oct 27, 2013 7:18 PM in response to t.pawelek

FWIW I'm having same issue on a network at my school. Several clients connected through same switch..same subnet... nothing caching at all.

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Answer 7

designev

Level 1

10 points

Oct 28, 2013 11:38 AM in response to t.pawelek

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/

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Answer 8

Oct 28, 2013 12:11 PM in response to designev

Needs no translation ! Just reset Caching and did download some iOS stuff. No miracle.

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Answer 9

t.pawelek Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 28, 2013 12:25 PM in response to raimattern

Are you sure this is an actual app cache? Not just the 7.0.3 update?

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Answer 10

Oct 28, 2013 12:44 PM in response to t.pawelek

?? 34 MB and 7.0.3 ?? This device had been updated long time ago to 7.0.3.

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Answer 11

t.pawelek Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 28, 2013 12:47 PM in response to t.pawelek

I thought the incremental update was around 50MB. Anyway, that proves that Caching Server works, at least for some. Now, if we could only find out what the reason is it doesn't work for the rest of us...

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Answer 12

Oct 28, 2013 1:12 PM in response to t.pawelek

I guess that your local iOS devices use a local proxy.

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Answer 13

t.pawelek Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 28, 2013 1:17 PM in response to t.pawelek

They what?

All of the devices AND the server share the same external IP and DNS configuration. Not sure what kind of proxy you have in mind.

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Answer 14

designev

Level 1

10 points

Oct 28, 2013 1:23 PM in response to t.pawelek

Same here.. our Mavericks Server and iPads are all fresh out of the box setups.. no custom configurations done that might alter the behavior of the caching server. The server and iPads are all on the same network.

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Answer 15

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?

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