Reset Apple Software Update Service (SUS)

Submitted by Edward Marczak on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 18:10

Honestly, there's no more finicky service under OS X Server than Software Update. Sometimes, you just need reset the service and start from scratch. Under Server 10.6, the best way I've found is to:

- Stop the service.
- Get a shell on the server and sudo up to root.
- mv /var/db/swupd /var/db/swupd.old
- mv /etc/swupd /etc/swupd.old
- mkdir -p /var/db/swupd/html
- chown -R _softwareupdate:_softwareupdate /var/db/swupd
- chmod g+w /var/db/swupd
- Use ServerAdmin to (re)set the preferences for the service
- Let 'er rip. (start the service)

Once you start the service, it will need to sync with the Apple servers and download all updates, so, be prepared for a wait. However, this will get you back in shape if SUS has gone off the rails.