Apple bandwidth throttling updates and app download?

[AlexM]

Getting some issues while updating and installing apps on iPads using configurator 2. Our internet connection for all the schools in the county route through on external IP address. When enrolling iPads and updating them, at first the downloading is fast but very quickly the download speed drops and will remain slow for the rest of the day. If we transfer the Mac to another network (which is using a different external IP address but again for all the schools) the speed will pick up again.

 

My thought is that with all of the iOS devices that all the schools have - and there are probably a couple of thousand now in all that would use this external IP - Apple are throttling the available bandwidth as more requests for apps and updates are received within a certain time period.

 

The speed was so slow that I ended up taking home 60 iPads to setup on my home network but the same thing happened about half way through the process - speeds started to significantly drop.

 

Turning on caching on the Mac doesn't seem to help much either.

 

Any thoughts?

[free780]

From apples perspective you can purchase a Mac server with the iOS apps caching server. But it relies on the fact you have a static external IP for your school.

[Joanne]

Yeah you need to get a static from your ISP for your caching server. Sometimes it take a while of being switched on to start working too... like a week or so to properly bed in.

[Brimstone]

Also bear in mind..

 

The ISP that your LA uses can be the throttle here, not Apple.

 

If you are trying to use caching server without a static I.P. and other schools also have them this it can cause serious issues with app and iOS updates on devices.

 

Check that LA filters are set up correctly, 17.0.0/8 block is assigned to Apple, check other ports here..

 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT203609

[SchoolsBroadband]

When Apple or Microsoft release large updates we see a huge spike in bandwidth usage which normally lasts for a good half day. Fortunately we have the upstream capacity to deal with it but I suspect many LA's don't so it could affect all schools on their network. If you have your own firewall with layer 7 application control (such as the Fortinets we use) then you can do your own throttling to apple or microsoft or even from apple devices as the Fortigates are clever enough to know what type of devices are connecting to the network it protects.

 

It is also a good idea to do the caching server as per other people suggest on this thread.

 

Good luck

 

Dave