IamNehalem
Level 1 (15 points)

Q: How to stop OS X from retrieving reverse DNS name ?!

Hello guys,

 

 

I have a small problem that's very annoying. I manage a couple dozen Macs at work via ARD. All Macs are up to date and so is ARD.

 

Recently i started to notice something bizzare in ARD, meaning that from time to time a couple of Macs that were passed over from an ex employee to another current employee, behaved erradic in ARD. Sometimes they appear offline, sometimes they dissaper entirely (also in Scanner), BUT most of the times they appear with incorrect DNS name (ex DNS name from the ex employee or even duplicates DNS names)

 

I attached a pic in which you can clearly see what i'm all about.Screen Shot 2014-03-17 at 17.01.56.png

 

 

I tried different situations and config mods, and i almost nailed it when i changed the DHCP DNS settings from the router. Currently the router LAN DNS settings points to the local server (ie: 10.0.1.2) which has DNS enabled and then to the public DNS. If i switch the entires, then the DNS names appear correctly in ARD, but if i do that i also loose the iChat service which is dependent of that entry.

 

SO i think the best way is to figure out a way to stop OS X from retrieveing reverse DNS names. Is this possible?

Posted on Mar 17, 2014 8:08 AM

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IamNehalem

Q: How to stop OS X from retrieving reverse DNS name ?!

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  • Helpful answers

  • by chattphotos,

    chattphotos chattphotos Mar 17, 2014 8:49 AM in response to IamNehalem
    Level 4 (2,417 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 17, 2014 8:49 AM in response to IamNehalem

    Check the Hostname on the problem computers...

     

    Second, you do have a local DHCP/DNS sever right? DHCP should issue out Network and Local DNS addresses to clients accordingly. Reserve the MAC addresses so that each computer gets the same IP every time.

     

    Or you can also manually assign IP addresses for the network and DNS.

     

    The router should be running as a gateway, nothing else.

     

    iChat/Messages uses Bonjour to communicate, it shouldn't be ultra-dependent on DNS.

  • by IamNehalem,

    IamNehalem IamNehalem Mar 17, 2014 9:03 AM in response to chattphotos
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Mar 17, 2014 9:03 AM in response to chattphotos

    Hostname is correct on all computers. I even chaged it from System Pref-Sharing just to make sure it's changed.

     

    I have DNS on the OS X Server. DHCP is handled by the router...

  • by chattphotos,

    chattphotos chattphotos Mar 17, 2014 11:07 AM in response to IamNehalem
    Level 4 (2,417 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 17, 2014 11:07 AM in response to IamNehalem

    Good to hear the correct hostnames.

     

    Move DHCP to the server or go Static, that way the lease is managed centrally and the DNS name will return to a more constant level.

  • by MT Buck,Helpful

    MT Buck MT Buck Mar 17, 2014 11:06 PM in response to IamNehalem
    Level 1 (21 points)
    Mar 17, 2014 11:06 PM in response to IamNehalem

    I've have this issue too.  This thread may be helpful:

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4190442

     

    Most of our computers have static IP addresses assigned, so it is just some laptops that receive DHCP that seem to get confused in ARD sometimes.  As in your case, the computers themselves never have an issue - it is just ARD that gets mixed messages.  It also never seems to affect ARD, it just displays incorrectly. While I'm not entirely convinced this is fixable, I took the advice of the thread above and when it gets really bad, I simply go to "All Computers" and delete everything out.  Then I quit and reopen ARD and then from the Scanner, I re-add the computers and re-organize them.  We only have about 30 computers, so it goes quick when they are all turned on.  They seem to stay pretty organized for a while... and then the cycle begins again.

  • by IamNehalem,

    IamNehalem IamNehalem Mar 18, 2014 2:44 AM in response to chattphotos
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Mar 18, 2014 2:44 AM in response to chattphotos

    I moved DHCP to the OS X Server and all is better now. Also moved all my Macs to static and left the other wirless and third party network devices to DHCP.

     

    I also did a clean reinstall of ARD using this:

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2577

  • by chattphotos,

    chattphotos chattphotos Mar 18, 2014 8:51 AM in response to IamNehalem
    Level 4 (2,417 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 18, 2014 8:51 AM in response to IamNehalem

    Glad to hear moving DHCP was the resolution.

     

    Plus, you can add reservations for the laptops you want that way they always get the same address.