Mac OS X Server v10.6: Software Update Service may not reach Apple through proxy server
Products Affected
Mac OS X Server 10.6
Symptoms
In Mac OS X Server v10.6, the Software Update service may not be able to download the catalog or update files from Apple's public Software Update servers if your server is behind a HTTP proxy.
If your server is behind a HTTP proxy server and Server Admin does not list any available updates, check the /var/log/swupd/swupd_syncd.log for the following messages:
server.example.com swupd_syncd[31893] <Info>: ========== Sync Started ========== server.example.com swupd_syncd[31893] <Error>: Unable to retrieve catalog(s) from the Apple server server.example.com swupd_syncd[31893] <Info>: Sync Complete
Resolution
Note: If you are trying to use the Software Update service through a proxy defined by a Proxy Auto-Config (PAC) file, please see Mac OS X Server v10.6: Software Update Service does not use proxies defined by proxy auto-config (PAC) files.
First, update to Mac OS X Server v10.6.3 or later.
After installing the Mac OS X Server v10.6.3 Update, you will need to define your Web Proxy (HTTP) in the Network preferences. In order to change the Web Proxy (HTTP) settings, follow the steps below:
- From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
- From the View menu, choose Network.
- Select the primary network interface in the list of Network Interfaces.
- Click the Advanced... button in the Network Interface settings.
- Click the Proxies tab of the Advanced Interface settings.
- Select Web Proxy (HTTP) from the list of protocols.
- Enter the IP address and the port number of the Web Proxy service in the required fields.
- Enable the Web Proxy (HTTP) by checking the Web Proxy (HTTP) checkbox.
- Click OK.
- Click Apply.
- Ensure that the web is browsable through the Web Proxy (HTTP) settings by opening Safari and loading a website, such as www.apple.com.
Important: A separate issue related to using Web Proxy (HTTP) servers that require authentication is described in Mac OS X Server v10.4 or later: Requirements for Software Update Service.
Additional Information
If you previously worked around this issue in Mac OS X Server v10.6, 10.6.1, or 10.6.2 by editing the com.apple.swupdate.sync.plist in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/, and you followed the original instructions and made a back up of the original /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.swupdate.sync.plist file, then you can revert to the original file with the following commands:
cd /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
sudo cp com.apple.swupdate.sync.plist.backup com.apple.swupdate.sync.plist
If a backup of the original file was not made, the following EnvironmentVariables section will need to be removed from the property list file:
<key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
<dict>
<key>http_proxy</key>
<string>192.168.0.1:800</string>
</dict>
The following command in Terminal will remove the EnvironmentVariables dictionary from the property list file:
cd /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Delete :EnvironmentVariables" com.apple.swupdate.sync.plist
Twitter
Facebook