Content Caching

License: Gold

Applicable to: macOS 10.13.4 or supported newer versions.

Configure content-caching service in order to enable local copies of the App Store software and enable connected clients for faster software and app downloads.

Content caching configuration

Procedure

  1. Select Configurations.
  2. Click + Add.
  3. Type caching in the search field, and then click the Content Caching configuration.
  4. Enter a name and describe the configuration.
  5. Enter the content caching configuration settings.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Select the Enable this configuration option.
  8. Select one of the following distribution options:

    • All Devices

    • No Devices (default)

    • Custom

  9. Click Done.

Content caching configuration settings

Use the settings in the following table to configure content caching. For more information about these settings, see Apple documentation.

Setting

Description

Allow the system to purge content from the cache automatically

(Available in macOS 10.15 or supported newer versions.

Allow the system to purge content from the cache automatically when it needs disk space for other apps (i.e. when free disk space runs low on the computer).

By default, this option is enabled.
Allow personal caching

Cache the user's iCloud data. Clients may take some time (hours or days) to react to changes to this setting; it doesn't have an immediate effect.

By default, this option is enabled.
Allow Shared caching

Cache non-iCloud content, such as apps and software updates. Clients may take some time (hours, days) to react to changes to this setting; it does not have an immediate effect.

By default, this option is enabled.
Allow automatically activating the content cache Automatically activate the content cache when possible and prevents it from being disabled.

Allow Auto-Enable Tethered Caching

(Available in macOS 10.15.4 or supported newer versions

Automatically enable Internet connection sharing when possible and prevent disabling Internet connection sharing.

Disables Tethered Caching Disables tethered caching. The Disables Tethered Caching option overrides the Allow Auto-Enable Tethered Caching option.

Cache Limit

The maximum number of bytes of disk space that will be used for the content cache. A value of 0 means unlimited disk space.

Default value: 0

Data Path

The path to the directory used to store cached content. Changing this setting manually doesn't automatically move cached content from the old location to the new one. To move content automatically, use the Sharing preference's Content Caching pane.

The value must be (or end with) /Library/Application Support/Apple/AssetCache/Data.

Allow display alerts

(Available in macOS 10.15 or supported newer versions.

Content Caching displays exceptional conditions (alerts) as system notifications in the upper corner of the screen.

Keep device Awake

(Available in macOS 10.15 or supported newer versions.

Prevents the computer from sleeping as long as Content Caching is on (System Preferences > Sharing > Content Caching is on).

Listen Ranges

An array of dictionaries describing a range of client IP addresses to serve.

First IP address

First IP address of the clients in the Listen Ranges.

Last IP Address

Last IP address of the clients in the Listen Ranges.

IP Address Type

Select one of the following options:

  • IPv4 (default)

  • IPv6

Allow Listen ranges Only

The content cache provides content to the clients in the Listen Ranges only.

Allow Listen with Peers and parents

The content cache provides content to the clients in the union of the Listen Ranges, Peer Listen Ranges, and Parents.

By default, this option is enabled.

Allow Local subnets only

The content cache offers content to clients only on the same immediate local network. No content is offered to clients on other networks reachable by the content cache. If this option is enabled, the Listen Ranges will be ignored.

By default, this option is enabled.

Log client Identity

The Content Cache logs the IP address and port number of the clients that request content.

Parents selection Policy

Select one of the following policy options:

  • First available

  • URL path hash

  • Round-robin (default)

  • Random

  • Sticky-Available

Parents

An array of the local IP addresses of other content caches that this cache should download from or upload to, instead of downloading from or uploading to Apple directly.

Click + Add to add one or more IP addresses.

Allow Peer local Subnets only

The content cache only peers with other content caches on the same immediate local network, rather than with content caches that use the same public IP address as the device.

By default, this option is enabled.

Port

The TCP port number on which the content cache accepts requests for uploads or downloads. Set the port to 0 to pick a random, available port.

Default value: 0

Public Ranges

An array of dictionaries describing a range of public IP addresses that the Ivanti Neurons for MDM servers should use for matching clients to content caches.

First IP address

First IP address of the servers in the Public Ranges.

Last IP Address

Last IP address of the servers in the Public Ranges.

IP Address Type

Select one of the following options:

  • IPv4 (default)

  • IPv6

For more information, see How to create a configuration.