Configuring a Caching Server

[dhorowitz]

I know there's probably a million discussions on this, but can't seem to find it. My school is new to the world of Apple. I am more of a Windows systems guy in terms of expertise. We are awaiting the arrival of our first class set of iPads. I have received today the Mini that I want to use as a caching server. I'm just a bit lost on how I go about setting one up. Do I need to download the OSX Server from the App Store? If not, what else is needed?

[jcarr]

Launch the app and turn the service on. If you're behind a single NAT, that's all you need to do. You may want to turn off caching personal iCloud data to avoid rapidly filling up your storage.

More info can be found in the Server Help

[StoneMagnet]

@dhorowitz Yes, you want to install the Server app from the App Store. The biggest trick to getting the caching service properly configured is making sure it's registered for all of the public IP addresses that your machines may use to check with Apple's update server. You'll find the following useful for that (definitely set up the DNS record as mentioned in these articles):

Enable caching service discovery across multiple public IP addresses

OS X Caching Server – Setup and Troubleshooting

[bpriscott]

All you require is the OSX Server from the App Store for the most part.

When logged in you do have a few options available, from scoping to a set of network addresses or can work with other cache servers. I would make sure if leveraging caching services is to make sure all system updates are automatically done all the time. Make sure to verify your Energy Settings in System Preferences, to make sure your Mini is on all the time and not sleeping without a monitor. I would suggest setting drive space the caching service is aloud to take from the computer.

I have in our school system, 21 total caching servers primarily on Mac Pro or the newer style Mac Pro. I have a main master one and 20 separate sites that are all connected. Works great and has saved bandwidth. If using a proxy server of any sort. I would suggest looking at using a PAC file as the solution for iPads, and AutoProxy Discovery for Mac Clients. This way your proxy server doesn't get hammered, the devices will go right to caching service.

Some command line for when using Terminal.

START SERVICE:
sudo /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/serveradmin start caching

STOP SERVICE:
sudo /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/serveradmin stop caching

CHECK SERVICE SETTINGS:
sudo /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/serveradmin settings caching

SETTING HARD DRIVE SPACE: (SET FOR 100 GB)
sudo /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/serveradmin settings caching:ReservedVolumeSpace = 10000000000

Some good info hope this helps.

[AVmcclint]

You also need to make sure your organization's firewalls are allowing communication between your server and Apple. I'm fighting a battle now to get the firewall opened but the powers that be are being very anti-Apple right now. Until I get the firewall rules changed, my caching server does absolutely nothing.

It is nice that the caching server really isn't much more than "turn it on and it just works", but the problem with that kind of simplicity is that when it doesn't "just work", it is impossible to get any data to help you figure out where it's broken.

[gskibum]

Krypted has quite a lot of info on the Caching Server.

Krypted Caching Server Search