How do I update my hostname change with the DNS server?

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Level 1

3 points

How do I update my hostname change with the DNS server?

Hey all,

My machine has a static IP, and I just changed its hostname (to be consistent with other machines). At the terminal, when I do:

hostname

I get what I expect. But I can't ping the machine based on it's hostname. I'm guessing this probably has something to do with the network DNS machines, but I don't have access to them. How can I force the hostname to update on the DNS servers? Is there a broadcast command or something like that available? And does this even sound like the problem?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jul 20, 2009 11:44 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Tim Haigh

Level 7

24,198 points

Jul 20, 2009 2:11 PM in response to mickey13

Do you have a local dns server on your network? If not hostnames wont work unless you configure the hosts file on the machine your pinging from. Bonjour will work however, you set the bonjour name in the sharing preferences.

If you do have a local dns server, then this is where your macs hostname and IP address is configured. Then you dont need to setup a hostname on your mac you just configure your network settings to comply with whatever IP address the dns server has been configured for.

When I put a new machine on my lan, I goto the DNS server and setup a machine name, I choose an IP address and configure its hostname using a FQDN.

I then goto the new machine setup a manual ip and setup the ip of the dns server, with the settings I setup on the dns server. I dont have to change the hostname on the mac.

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Answer 2

mickey13 Author

Level 1

3 points

Jul 22, 2009 8:36 AM in response to Tim Haigh

Thanks for your reply Tim. The network is a university network, so I don't have access to the university DNS servers. The way I believe this to work is (university mask: 255.255.0.0), (department mask: 255.255.255.0). But all departments use the university DNS. When I setup the machine I'm having problems with, I didn't conform to the hostname convention. I wanted to fix that, but I'm not sure how to get this to be reflected in the university DNS. The university says the DNS servers update twice a week, but the change hasn't been reflected yet (been over a week). Is there a way to have the machine tell the DNS servers: "hey, I've changed what I want my local hostname to be, so please update that"?

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Answer 3

direwolf8

Level 4

1,280 points

Jul 22, 2009 11:34 AM in response to mickey13

No, generally someone has to change that manually for you. You probably need to send in a request. How long it will take to propagate the new name depends on how long they've set the TTL (time to live) parameter.

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