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directing 10.8 clients to an internal SUS

  • January 8, 2013
  • 8 replies
  • 29 views
A
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This really shouldn't be so difficult...

Obviously I have several 10.8 clients that are going to need their updates. I just upgraded our dev server to OS X 10.8 (we move slowly here), and despite following Apple's KB articles on the subject here: http://help.apple.com/advancedserveradmin/mac/10.8/#apdA35B7054-9A0B-427B-9B90-8028A1F0A421 and krypted's article here: http://krypted.com/mac-os-x/using-the-software-update-service-on-mountain-lion-server/, I cannot seem to get the darn thing up and running.

I've checked the URL that I'm setting as the CatalogURL in /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist: CatalogURL = "http://cletestmac:8088/index.sucatalog";

a softwareupdate -l from the terminal yields: The operation couldn’t be completed. (NSURLErrorDomain error -1011.)

I tried changing the CatalogURL to CatalogURL = "http://cletestmac:8088/index-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog";

and softwareupdate -l yields: The operation couldn’t be completed. (NSURLErrorDomain error -1102.)

The GUI software update just says no updates are available.

Apple discussion forums say the appropriate catalog files on the server should be at /Library/Server/Software Update/data/html, but there's nothing in this directory.

Any ideas on where to look next?

Best answer by cbrewer

Have you tried using http://cletestmac:8088/content/catalogs/others/index-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog as the CatalogURL? What happens when you go to http://cletestmac:8088/content/catalogs/others/index-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog in your web browser?

    8 replies

    F
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    • franton
    • Esteemed Contributor
    • January 8, 2013

    This one is a strange one. I've found that particular error crops up a lot when there are NO updates available for a machine but when there is an update, it works perfectly.

    C
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    • cbrewer
    • Esteemed Contributor
    • Answer
    • January 8, 2013

    Have you tried using http://cletestmac:8088/content/catalogs/others/index-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog as the CatalogURL? What happens when you go to http://cletestmac:8088/content/catalogs/others/index-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog in your web browser?

    mm2270
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    • mm2270
    • Legendary Contributor
    • January 8, 2013

    +1 for what cbrewer mentions. Have you pasted the URLs you're trying in your browser? that is the surest way to know if you have the correct URL or not. If you can't pull up an xml in Safari with that URL, it ain't the right one.

    N
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    • Nix4Life
    • Honored Contributor
    • January 9, 2013

    part of the script that sets this up for me : /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL http://cletestmac:8088/index.sucatalog

    A
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    • acdesigntech
    • Author
    • Contributor
    • January 9, 2013

    @cbrewer and mm2270: I did paste the urls I gave you into a browser and Safari couldn't find the host or some other error, can't remember off the top of my head. I pasted the one cbrewer posted and it showed me an xml readout of the updates on the server. I will try redirecting my clients to this new CatalogURL and update this thread.

    Thanks so far!

    T
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    • taugust04
    • Valued Contributor
    • January 10, 2013

    What version of OS X Server did you upgrade from?

    When I upgraded a couple of servers that were running 10.6.8, I noticed some of the same issues with the Software Update server not being recognized by clients. After some investigation, I think some of the symbolic links that were ported over from the upgrade from 10.6.8 to 10.8.2 for the catalogs were corrupted.

    I reset the entire contents of the Software Update service, by first disabling the Software Update service using Server.app, and then going into /Library/Server/Software Update and clearing everything out of that directory. Upon starting the service back up, all the files were recreated and the all the software updates were brought back down from Apple.

    If you don't feel like doing a full reset, just try deleting the following files located in the /Library/Server/Software Update/Data/html directory (Disable the Software Update service first):

    index-leopard-snowleopard.merged-1.sucatalog
    index-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog
    index-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog

    Those catalog links should be regenerated the next time you restart the Software Update service. Once that is working, the generic index.sucatalog URL should work. If not, a full reset might be required. I noticed that this bug only popped up with upgrades of Mountain Lion Server over previous versions, and not with fresh installs.

    Good luck,

    ~Ted

    A
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    • acdesigntech
    • Author
    • Contributor
    • January 10, 2013

    I upgraded from server 10.6.8. I'll investigate more tomorrow about this, and since it's pretty much a dev server, I don't mind blowing away any of the services.

    A
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    • akanuteh
    • New Contributor
    • January 24, 2013

    Try using the FQDN of your server e.g..cletestmac.testcompany.com

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