How to stop ColdFusion trying to connect to Update Site?

[bell_the_cat]

Let me preface this by saying I run ColdFusion 2021 & 2023 as standalone servers, and I do install patches once released.  I have an established process for acquiring and installing updates manually, which I have no intention of changing.  My question is how do I stop ColdFusion 2021/2023 from trying to connect to the Update Site automatically whenever I go to CF Admin> Package Manager? 

When I try to open the Package Manager section within CF Admin, the server tries to reach out multiple times to the update site first.  Each attempt takes about a minute to timeout, so it takes 3-5 minutes to actually load the page.  This is not an exaggeration.

Yes, I have "Automatically Check for Updates" unchecked.  And "Check for updates every" unchecked.  Doesn't make any difference. 

I've tried blanking out and saving the Default URL for udpates in CF Admin.  When I save, it just restores the default value. 

I've also tried manually editing neo_updates.xml to remove the values.  Doesn't make any difference.  In the logs, it still shows server trying to connect to https://www.adobe.com/go/coldfusion-updates, and it still takes several minutes for it to timeout and load the Packages Manager page.

Is there some way to tell the server that it should NOT reach out and check for updates?  Or direct it to something local?  Or anything that will cause the CF Admin> Packages Manager page to load faster?

Any help will be appreciated.

[Charlie Arehart]

You could certainly try pointing both at a local file or url. While you don't plan to use the admin to DO the updates, sadly what's in those url fields WILL be used even if you do a manual update. We'll, at least the packages url will be. So while pointing to "any" local file for this might stop the hangup, your manual updates might be hampered.

Do you do the zip extraction aspect of the manual update?

And are you sure the proxy settings on the package settings page are not misconfigured?

[bell_the_cat]

@Charlie Arehart  For updates, I manually download the hotfix packages repository to the server, unzip it and point the Packages Site in CF Admin aka <packagesurl> at the local bundlesdependency.json file.  Then I run the update from command line to apply the hotfix.  Packages update automatically from the repository when CF server is restarted.

I've been playing around a bit with the neo_updates.xml file.  I There is a <url> element that is not represented on the CF Admin page.  Looks like that may be what triggers the automatic update checking.  I've removed the values for both <url> and <defaulturl> and that may have done the trick.  It still logs an error message in the update.log "Not able to connect to Update Site", but it returns immediately without having to wait for a timeout, because it doesn't have anywhere to connect.