Before you set up Software Update on your server, you must be familiar with your network configuration and you must meet the following requirements:
You’re the server administrator.
You’re familiar with network setup.
You might also need to work with your networking staff to change network topologies, switches, routers, and other network settings.
The type of network connections to use depends on the number of clients you expect to serve software updates to:
To provide regular updates to fewer than 10 clients, use 100-Mbit Ethernet.
To provide regular updates to 10–50 clients, use 100-Mbit switched Ethernet.
To provide regular updates to more than 50 clients, use Gigabit Ethernet.
These are estimates for the number of clients supported.
Note: In OS X Server, Software Update operates across all network interfaces that TCP/IP is configured for.
The number of client computers your server can support when accessing Software Update depends on how your server is configured, when and how often your clients check for updates, the size of the updates, and a number of other factors.
When planning for your server and network needs, consider these main factors:
Ethernet speed: 100Base-T or faster connections are required for client computers and the server. As you add clients, you might need to increase the speed of the Ethernet connections of your server.
Ideally you want to take advantage of the Gigabit Ethernet capacity built in to your Mac server hardware to connect to a Gigabit switch. From the switch, connect Gigabit Ethernet or 100-Mbit Ethernet to each Mac client.
Hard disk capacity and number of packages: Software Update packages can occupy considerable hard disk space on server volumes, depending on the size and configuration of the package and the number of packages being stored.
Number of Ethernet ports on the switch: Distributing Mac clients over multiple Ethernet ports on your switch offers a performance advantage. Each port must serve a distinct segment.
Number of Software Update servers on the network: You might want to provide different software updates to various groups of users. By configuring directory services you can offer different update services by network or hardware type, each targeting a different Software Update server on the network.
Note: You can’t configure Software Update servers to talk to one another.
Software updates are stored in the /Library/Server/Software Update/Data/ folder and can easily take a large amount of disk space over time and cause problems with system resources. In a production environment, it’s important to prevent the system disk from becoming full and causing instability.
To eliminate the possibility of software updates filling a volume, system administrators normally limit the type of data being stored on the startup volume and place data that could grow substantially in size on other volumes. For example, you could use a RAID volume to store software updates.
Before you set up Software Update, consider whether to provide all or only part of Apple’s software updates. Your client computers might run apps that requires a specific version of Apple software for the application to operate correctly.
You can configure your Software Update server to serve only software update packages you approve. Restricting access to update packages might help prevent maintenance and compatibility problems with your computers.
You can restrict client access in a Software Update server by disabling automatic mirror-and-enable functions in the General Settings pane. You manage specific updates in the Updates pane of the Software Update server.
You might have individuals, groups, or groups of computers with common needs for only a few software update packages, while others might need unrestricted access to all software updates.
To provide varied access to software update packages, you must set up multiple Software Update servers.