Speeding up adding packages to the JSS?

[DanJ_LRSFC]

I uploaded a package to the JSS yesterday afternoon in Casper Admin and this morning it is still showing as Pending, is there any way to speed up the process? The actual physical upload was already completed yesterday afternoon, but there's obviously some other process that goes on before the package can be available to install, any way to make that process faster?

Thanks,
Dan Jackson (Senior ITServices Technician)
Long Road Sixth Form College
Cambridge, UK.

[charliwest]

Have you tried downloading the package and verifying its actually working? I found that when uploading large packages sometimes it seem to have completed but because of the long route the package needs to take it sometimes looks complete but is not yet.

[DanJ_LRSFC]

@charliwest I'm seeing the opposite of that, the upload completed in Casper Admin but is still showing as Pending/Waiting on the JSS, and it's been in that status since yesterday afternoon. I'm just trying to find out if there's any way to get packages ready and registered with the JSS more quickly, or alternatively if there's any way to see where it's got to in the process or what's blocking it from being ready.

[were_wulff]

@DanJ_LRSFC

It would be helpful to know what kind of distribution point you're using here; is it cloud, a JDS, or a local file share?

If you're using the JCDS or another cloud distribution service, it's recommended to use the web UI and not Casper Admin due to several issues we've found with Casper Admin being unreliable for uploads (especially large ones) to the JCDS and cloud distribution points in general.

If you're using a JDS the file may be stuck, which isn't an uncommon occurrence with the JDS as the files first go through the Tomcat Temp directory, then through the MySQL database, then are finally complete once that completes. If the space available in either of those places is smaller than the largest package being pushed through, it will fail and become 'stuck' in a perpetually waiting/pending state until it's manually cleared out and the space issue is fixed; if this is the case, please get in touch with Support to get the stuck file(s) cleared out of the database and double check space requirements to make sure it's not running out of space anywhere along the line. Sometimes, even if space requirements are fine, files just get 'stuck' like that anyway.
Also, if you're using a JDS, please strongly consider not using a JDS and moving to either a cloud file share or a regular file share instead.

If you're seeing this behavior with an AFP or SMB share, it'd probably be best to get in touch with Support as this is behavior we typically see with either the JCDS/Cloud distribution points + Casper Admin or a JDS, so a little more digging into the situation may be required if it's not one of those two things.

Thanks!
Were Wulff
Jamf Support