Local Update Server -- possible?

[r0b0h0b0]

We've recently replaced a bunch of windows machines here at work with Ubuntu 8.10 and so far, so good. The frequent updates are nice, but here in South Africa, bandwidth is really expensive.

Is there a way to set up one machine on the network as a kind of an "update server" where IT downloads all the latest updates, and then the other machines update from IT? Once each machine has downloaded the necessary stuff from this local update server, it then searches the repositories for updates specific to the software installed on it.

It breaks my heart (and my bank) to watch four machines download the exact same xxxMB of updates, individually.

[ajgreeny]

Have a look at aptoncd. It allows you to update one machine and then transfer the downloaded files to the others simply by creating an iso file (or burning a CD) of all the .deb files in /var/cache/apt/archives and copying it to the other computers. I use it all the time for my two machines.

[cariboo]

This:

http://www.debuntu.org/how-to-set-up-a-repository-cache-with-apt-cacher

may bw what you are looking for.

Jim

[r0b0h0b0]

Jim, I haven't tried it yet, but by the looks of it, that is *exactly* what I am looking for. Many thanks.