Scheduled Tasks & Network Traffic

[costes]

This may be a networking question, but I wanted to ask around and see if we can eliminate some other variables. In our environment (K-8 edu, ~700 Macs and ~800 iOS devices) we've noticed our incoming traffic throughput gets maxed out. This will happen around midnight and noon for about an hour window (ex: 11:30ish am/pm to 12:30ish am/pm)

I'm curious as to what services I can eliminate/factor-in with JSS, Mac, and iOS devices, that could be contributing to this traffic.

Ones I've considered:
-Mac App Store Auto-Update: usually disabled for all computers, and a policy is in place to disable it
-Mobile Device Apps: In the JSS 'Automatically update app' is enabled, is there a specific time they check?
-Mobile Device Apps: In the JSS 'iTunes Sync Time' is defaulting at midnight

What other factors am I not thinking about? Thanks

[bburdeaux]

There is a specific time that the JSS checks for app updates. The default is midnight, and can be set in the App Updates section of the Mobile Device settings.

Are you using a caching server(s)? If not, it is something very worth looking into, as they will cut down the network traffic significantly, particularly from iOS and MacOS apps. If you are using a caching server, what proportion of your iOS devices are running iOS 10+? There is currently an issue with iOS 10-10.1.1 that causes devices to bypass caching server and hit the internet for all of their downloads. This issue is slated to be fixed in the next iOS update.

[millersc]

Absolutely get a MacMini setup as a Caching server. We are 5K Mac and 3K iOS and I have proven over and over the reduction of bandwidth to management for a $500 mini that was questioned. 1 time expense vs unknown bandwidth costs. Simple math imho.