Mavericks Server Part 25: Software Update

25/04/14 17:25 Filed in: Technology

Keeping your Mac’s up to date is an important part of maintaining your Apple Computers. Built into OS X is the Software Update Service that checks for new updates and then let’s you know when an update is available for OS X and other Apple Software. Users then typically download the update from Apple’s Servers and then run the update. Depending on how many computers you have on your network and the size of the update, each user would download a unique copy of the same update which could put a strain on your network bandwidth.

To help you better manage your network and make it more efficient, OS X Server has a built in Software Update Server that let’s you download the updates once and then have your users look to your server for their updates instead of all going to Apple’s Servers. It also allows you to control which updates your users have available to them. This comes in handy when an update breaks something else and you want to block your users from using that update. Because they are coming to your server for the update, you control what updates they see and can use.

In this screencast, I walk you through how to set up and manage Software Update on OS X Server. I also cover how to set up your users to point them towards your server for updates. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Tags: Mac OSX, Mavericks, Server