Mac Server App High Sierra

Posted : admin | On 23-05-2021

Mac OS “high” Sierra is a beta. The “Server” is a joke. The Pro user is being killed off. Its all home user rubbish, watches, phones, TV sets etc Plan B is Linux, time for me to start switching over.

High Sierra sees the Caching service moved out of macOS Server and into the client macOS. This means administrators no longer need to run the Server app on caching servers. Given the fact that the Caching service only stores volatile data easily recreated by caching updates again, there’s no need to back the service up, and it doesn’t interact with users or groups, so it’s easily divested from the rest of the Server services.

Mac Server High Sierra

Mac
And the setup of the Caching service has never been easier. To do so, first open System Preferences and click on the Sharing System Preferences pane.
From here, click on the checkbox for Content Caching to start the service.
At the Content Caching panel, the service will say “Content Caching: On” once it’s running. Here, you can disable the “Cache iCloud content” option, which will disable the caching of user data supplied for iCloud (everything in here is encrypted, by the way). You can also choose to share the Internet Connection, which will create a wireless network that iOS devices can join to pull content.
Click Options. Here, you can see how much storage is being used and limit the amount used. Mac Server App High Sierra

defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.AssetCache.plist

Which returns the following configurable options:
Activated = 1;
CacheLimit = 0; DataPath = “/Library/Application Support/Apple/AssetCache/Data”; LastConfigData = <BIGLONGCRAZYSTRING>; LastConfigURL = “http://suconfig.apple.com/resource/registration/v1/config.plist”; LastPort = 56452; LastRegOrFlush = “2017-09-11 16:32:56 +0000”; LocalSubnetsOnly = 1; PeerLocalSubnetsOnly = 1; Port = 0; Region = 263755EFEF1C5DA178E82754D20D47B6; ReservedVolumeSpace = 2000000000; SavedCacheDetails = {
SavedCacheSize = 0;
ServerGUID = “EB531594-B51E-4F6A-80B9-35081B924629”;
Version = 1;}
This means that all those settings that you used to see in the GUI are still there, you just access them via the command line, by sending defaults commands. For example,
defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.AssetCache.plist CacheLimit -int 20000000000
You can
AssetCacheManagerUtil status
Which returns something similar to the following:
2017-09-11 11:49:37.427 AssetCacheManagerUtil[23957:564981] Built-in caching server status: {
Activated = 1;
Active = 1;
CacheDetails = {
iCloud = 4958643;
“iOS Software” = 936182434;};
CacheFree = 472585174016;
CacheLimit = 0;
CacheStatus = OK;
CacheUsed = 941141077;
Parents = ();
Peers = ();
PersonalCacheFree = 472585174016;
PersonalCacheLimit = 0;
PersonalCacheUsed = 4958643;
Port = 56452;
PrivateAddresses = (“192.168.104.196”);
PublicAddress = “38.126.164.226”;
RegistrationStatus = 1;
RestrictedMedia = 0;
ServerGUID = “EB531594-B51E-4F6A-80B9-35081B924629”;
StartupStatus = OK;
TotalBytesDropped = 0;
TotalBytesImported = 4958643;
TotalBytesReturnedToChildren = 0;
TotalBytesReturnedToClients = 166627405;
TotalBytesReturnedToPeers = 0;
TotalBytesStoredFromOrigin = 166627405;
TotalBytesStoredFromParents = 0;
TotalBytesStoredFromPeers = 0;
You can also use AssetCacheManagerUtil to manage tasks previously built into the Server app. To see the available options, simply run the command:
bash-3.2# /usr/bin/AssetCacheManagerUtil
Which would show the following:
Options are:
-a|–all show all events
-j|–json print results in JSON
-l|–linger don’t exit
2017-09-11 11:57:30.066 AssetCacheManagerUtil[24213:569932] Commands are:
activate
deactivate
isActivated
canActivate
flushCache
flushPersonalCache
flushSharedCache
status
settings
reloadSettings
moveCacheTo path
absorbCacheFrom path read-only|and-destroy
As such, to enable the server:
bash-3.2# /usr/bin/AssetCacheManagerUtil activate
To disable the server
bash-3.2# /usr/bin/AssetCacheManagerUtil deactivate
To check if the server can be activated
bash-3.2# /usr/bin/AssetCacheManagerUtil canActivate
To flush the cache of assets on the server:
bash-3.2# /usr/bin/AssetCacheManagerUtil flushCache
To reload settings if you make any changes:
bash-3.2# /usr/bin/AssetCacheManagerUtil reloadSettings
To move the database
/usr/bin/AssetCacheManagerUtil moveCacheTo '/Volumes/SONY/Library/Application Support/Apple/AssetCache/Data'
Finally, if you’d like to see the caching server your client system is using, you can run the following command:
/usr/bin/AssetCacheLocatorUtil 2>&1 | grep guid | awk '{print$4}' | sed 's/^(.*):.*$/1/' | uniq
And if you use Jamf Pro and would like to use this as an extension attribute, that’s posted here: https://github.com/krypted/cachecheck. I didn’t do any of the if/then there, as I’d usually just do that on the JSS.
Note: To see how AssetCache interacts with Tetherator, see Tethered Caching of iOS Assets from macOS 10.12.4.

You can upgrade to the latest version of macOS Server from the Mac App Store. If you move to a new server, you can use Migration Assistant to copy server data and settings from your previous server.

Before you begin

If your Mac uses macOS High Sierra or later, you can upgrade and migrate to the latest version of macOS Server. If your Mac uses an older version of macOS, learn how to upgrade your macOS Server from an earlier version.

Mac Os High Sierra Beta

High

Before you upgrade or migrate your macOS Server, follow these steps:

  • Back up your server with Time Machine or another method.
  • Make sure that your target server meets the system requirements for the latest versions of both macOS and macOS Server.
  • If your server relies on DNS or DHCP servers, make sure that they're turned on during the process.
  • Prepare for changes to macOS Server.

Upgrade your server

  1. If your Mac uses macOS High Sierra or macOS Mojave, check for any updates for macOS. If an update is available for macOS, click Update.
  2. Check for any updates to macOS Server. If an update is available, click Update, then open the Server app and finish the setup.
  3. Upgrade to the latest version of macOS Catalina.
  4. Update to the latest version of macOS Server.
  5. Open the Server app and finish the setup.

Migrate your server

You can use any one of the following sources to migrate your server data to another Mac:

  • A server connected in target disk mode
  • A local hard drive or volume
  • A Time Machine backup

You can’t use a network connection from a Time Machine backup or an existing server to migrate a macOS Server.

How to migrate your server data

  1. Install the latest version of macOS on the target system.
  2. Connect your previous server or backup device to the target system.
  3. Open Migration Assistant on the target system and follow the onscreen instructions.
  4. Select your previous server or backup device when prompted.
  5. When the migration finishes, install macOS Server.
  6. Open the macOS Server app and complete the setup.

Update your server on macOS Sierra and earlier

If your Mac uses macOS Sierra 10.12 or earlier, you have to delete the macOS Server app and your server data before you can update to the latest version. Here's how:

Mac Server App High Sierra Ca

  1. Move the Server app and /Library/Server to the Trash, which deletes your Server data.
  2. Upgrade to the latest version of macOS and download the latest version of macOS Server.
  3. Launch the Server app and complete the setup.