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ANU Mac OS X SoftwareUpdate Server

The Division of Information now offers the campus a centrally supported instance of Apple's Mac OS X SoftwareUpdate Server. The local SoftwareUpdate server enables administrators to easily deploy System and Security Updates to Mac OS X 10.4 and later (including Server versions). The ANU SoftwareUpdate server cannot be used with system versions prior to Mac OS X 10.4.

OS X Clients can be configured to directly auto-update from the ANU SoftwareUpdate server instead of the Apple servers, thereby saving time and download costs.

The savings for the ANU will be significant. Most patches average a few MB in size. If hundreds of Mac's were to download these patches from Apple rather than a local server the cost over time would be substantial. The ANU SoftwareUpdate server offers the same content as the Apple server and is synchronised daily with the Apple service.

The ANU SoftwareUpdate server will have ALL patches approved. This means that the client will attempt to install all required patches. If there is a need for an area to exclude some patches, they will need to implement a local instance of SoftwareUpdate server.

How to direct clients to use the ANU SoftwareUpdate Server.

1. Download and install Software Update Enabler from here. A readme file is included inside the downloaded file.


2. Open Software Update Enabler, and configure Software Update Enabler to use the following settings:
   
   
   
   • Update Server: http://softwareupdate.anu.edu.au:8088/
   
   
   • click Save

How to configure Software Update settings for your Mac.

1. Open the Software Update preference pane inside System Preferences


2. Set Check for updates to Daily


3. Click Check now




Updates available to be installed will appear.



Select the appropriate updates and click Install n items
The Updates will now be downloaded and installed from the ANU SoftwareUpdate server.