Caching Server for our little school with slow Internet connection

[foeba-ma]

Hello there,

we've been using ZuluDesk and now jamfSchool for quite some time now. Over time the number ov iPads grew to 34 and the number of installed Apps is over 50 now. Everytime I need to update those devices our Internet connection is blocked for a long time due to every iPad downloading everything directly from Apple.

I heard of the possibility to use a Mac Mini as "Caching Server" but I found no documentation as how to implement it with jamfSchool. Do I need to set up something in jamfSchool or just plug the Mini in, activate Caching in the Mini and plug it to the same subnet as the iPads run in?

[jeverett · Accepted solution]

You are correct. Turn caching on in System Preferences/Sharing Content Caching and attach you Mini on the same subnet as your devices— the devices will "just find it".

[gabe2385]

@foeba-ma Here is the Apple Documentation for content caching (caching server was removed when they removed it from the ServerOS): https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/what-is-content-caching-on-mac-mchl9388ba1b/mac

You can also enable it on any Mac so you can set a whole lab as you content caching if you need to, our campus we use a few Mac Pros to content cache our campus. 

[Fluffy]

As what the others have said, that's the gist of it.

Jamf School has an option that is in "beta" for caching. You can find it by going to Organization > Settings > Modules > Add modules. As per the page:

Use Jamf School Content Caching to download files that will be used by multiple students to one dedicated device in the school's network. Users who then download files and programs do so by downloading them from the dedicated device that is designated as content server within Jamf School.

When content caching is enabled, the following things will happen in your environment:

• A new menu item will appear in Settings where you can setup Content Caching.
• When viewing a media item, you will see a status if it is cached or not.
• When viewing a media item, you can enable/disable it for caching.

Our Mac Mini is too old of a model, so it doesn't seem to be compatible with it, but it may work for you.

[Chad-Bisd]

I had to slightly adjust my Content Caching server since I have devices in multiple subnets.  In the advanced settings, you can change it to provide caching for all devices that share the same public IP address.  My cache statistics (viewable in Activity Monitor, caching tab) went from 0 to tens of GB in a very short amount of time.