Problems with content caching

Content Cache Registration Failing - All Servers Getting 500 Error

Environment:

• 6x Mac mini servers
• macOS 26.0 (25A354)
• All servers showing identical failure pattern
• Previously working (last successful cache operations: Oct 30, 2025)

Problem: All Content Cache servers report "temporarily unavailable" with HTTP 500 Internal Server Error when attempting to register with Apple.

Error from AssetCacheManagerUtil status:

PublicAddress: [REDACTED]
RegistrationError: 500 Internal Server Error
RegistrationResponseCode: 500
RegistrationStarted: 2025-11-04 02:43:10
RegistrationStatus: -1
StartupStatus: FAILED

Activation attempt fails with timeout:

sudo AssetCacheManagerUtil activate

Result:

Failed to activate content caching: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=60 
"Operation timed out" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=timed out waiting for Active=YES}

Network Investigation:

1. Direct curl test to Apple's registration endpoint works:

curl -v -X POST "https://lcdn-registration.apple.com/lcdn/register"

Result: HTTP 400 with "MALFORMED_REQUEST_BODY" (this is expected behavior)

1. TCP packet capture shows successful connection but no response:

sudo tcpdump -i any host lcdn-registration.apple.com

• TCP handshake completes successfully
• HTTPS connection established
• Data is sent to Apple's server (17.156.129.135)
• Then 30 seconds of silence - no response packets from Apple
• Client times out

Key Finding: The activation process establishes connection and sends data, but Apple's server never responds, leading to a client-side timeout after 30 seconds.

What I've Tried:

• Removing and recreating preferences: sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.AssetCache.plist
• Deactivating/reactivating the service
• Verifying network connectivity (confirmed working)
• Testing from multiple servers (all fail identically)

Conclusion: This appears to be an Apple-side issue where their registration service accepts connections but fails to process Content Cache registration requests properly. The service works for simple curl tests but not for actual Content Cache server registrations.

Anyone else experiencing this issue?

We also see the http 500 errors

Have The same issue on our caching box, started today for our part.

Close to 8000 ipads getting ios 26.1 today, so not fun.

Traffic trough our FWs went ballistic.

I have opened a developer support ticket with Apple to see if they can take a look

It’s not a service that’s marked as down so I will check again tomorrow, but I have officially logged in with Apple