Has DHCP been removed from OS X Server (Mountain Lion)? I see a few people complaining that it cannot be configured from the Server.app and there are no new ServerAdmin tools for this version. Some mention that the help file says it should be enabled in the Server.app but DHCP doesn't show up in the menu.
Is it possible to disable the WiFi on an Airport Extreme and just use it as a DHCP server? And is it fully 10/100/1000 capable?
I suppose as a quick fix we could plug one of those into our network just off the root-switch, but the WiFi would definitely conflict with our existing wireless network, and even if we had the money to replace that network with a fleet of AirPort Expresses, there's no way they would have all the functionality of our enterprise-level APs.
Yes you can disable the WiFi on the Extreme (there are options for create, extend or off), and both the LAN and WAN ports can accomodate up to gigabit speeds.
The DHCP options limit you to a single scope though, which was an issue for me. I have one scope that dishes out Google DNS, and one that hands out OpenDNS for web filtering.
Well, let's go to product feedback and suggest DHCP on OS X Server:
gutted - Feed back submitted
Words fail me, I can't believe DHCP has been removed, what's next for the chop I wonder.
what is OSX server going to become in a few years - IOS profile manager and that's your lot.
Apparently DHCP is still here but needs some manual configuration: http://krypted.com/mac-os-x/running-dhcp-on-mountain-lion-server/
Yes, it's on ML and needs manual config.
But we're complaining at Product Feedback to get GUI configuration back!
Feedback submitted. OS is nothing more than a client machine with some feature add ons. Completely lost confidence from what I've been able to see and configure so far. As long as the availability can be accomplished through Cmd then that will suffice but even that seems sparse.
DHCP hasn't been removed, it's still there. DHCP gets enabled and is necessary for example for NetInstall/NetBoot.
The only thing that has been removed is the horribly bad GUI interface. You can use the /etc/bootpd.plist to alter the settings.
/etc/bootptab may not exist on your system if you have never created DHCP reservations. Or if you have created them but had Open Directory enabled then DHCP server stored them in OD /Computers records. Open /System/Library/CoreServices/Directory Utility, switch to Directory Editor tab and look in Computers in node /Local/Default
IceFloor is a pf firewall front-end since Lion. Probably, it applies to ML too. Ipfw in Lion remains my choice using WaterRoof, although it has been deprecated. IceFloor doesn't pass muster with me.
Given all that I'm reading, hearing, and personally experiencing, I've concluded that I will simply drive my MacBuggies until their wheels fall off and then forget Apple altogether. Apple doesn't need anymore of my $.
This shop has transitioned to Linux (Arch) which reliably does the work, performs like a Ferrari, and just doesn't require the care-and-feeding that Apple or Microsoft does.
Imho, of course.
Hi,
why do you need DHCP service in ML when you have Facebook and Twitter and 198 more absolute useless features in this new operating system. I changed last year away from MS to Apple and with every new product they release I regret this step a bit more. Not willing to spend money for this server to get additional workload on my shoulders to administrate it. This is the reason we use Apple products as they should be easy to manage. When I want to tamper with text config files I get a nicely working Linux box for half of the money.
Spot on. If i wanted to mess around with text configs I would have downloaded a free Linux OS.
I didnt want to do that and i still dont.
I now have an old Mac Mini running OSX server Leopard just for the DHCP server.!
Fully exxpect OSX server to be dropped by Apple, they do not seem to be taking the server market seriously.Why can you not load the server OS from scratch, rather than load the Desktop OS and then load the server application.
It is not designed as a fully integrated high avalability Server OS and with the loss of many features I am badly dissapointed.
Boy am I gutted (for my own personal reason). 😟
I spent years persuading Apple to eventually add the ability to define DHCP Option Codes to their DHCP server so that it could particular support VoIP configurations and also potentially nearly any DHCP requirement. (Apple eventually added this ability in Leopard Server). I then spent with other users many months working out how to actually encode the information in to the right format for use in /etc/bootpd.plist since Apple did not document this and then actually went to the effort of writing a full-blown GUI tool for generating any type of DHCP option code date, i.e. integers, IP addresses, text strings, and even hexadecimal data. I was quite proud of the fact that despite being downloaded and used by thousands of people not a single bug was found in this admittedly simple tool.
I have been campaining for Apple to add IPv6 support for DHCP, but effectively removing all support for DHCP is not the answer. 😟
As mentioned even though there is now no GUI at all it is still possible to run Apple's own customised bootpd daemon. Having read Apple's KB article it is also still at the moment possible to add DHCP option codes by manually editing /etc/bootpd.plist as before and according to Apple's article these manual edits will not be overwritten by Server.app
For the benefit of others it is in theory not necessary for someone to write a new DHCP server for OS X. Firstly the old bootpd is still present, and secondly there are at least two open-source DHCP servers that can and previously have been ported to OS X, these being dhcpd and bootpd (for IPv6) and dhcp6s and dhcpd (which can be started in both IPv6 and IPv4 modes).
What is needed is for a Mac GUI to be created for these tools or Apple's bootpd, after all as said here if we only have a CLI we might as well use Linux.
Personally, I would prefer someone to create a GUI for dhcdp which besides supporting both IPv4 and IPv6 also has built-in support for dhcp option codes. If someone chooses to write one for Apple's bootpd I would be happy to answer any questions about the format of fields in /etc/bootpd.plist
One issue to consider if using an alternative to Apple's bootpd is that this might create problems for NetBoot/NetInstall environments.
With regards to my DHCP Option Code Utility, I was hosting this on MobileMe which is of course no more and would appreciate a suggestion for a free web hosting service I could move it to.
ikilby wrote:
I now have DHCP server running on a Microsoft Windows server - so they have just lost an important Apple infrasturcture server, and had it replaced with a Microsoft server.
Apple does not give a hoot about infrastructure servers.
And you know what? I really couldn't agree more with them.
Kudos to Apple...they have ZERO chance against Microsoft Server.
ZERO...NADA...ZILCH...
Let Apple concentrate on iPhones, MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, Mac minis and Mac Pros.
I miss the DHCP server controls too...but it's easy enough to create /etc/bootptab to reserve IP Addresses...etc...etc...etc....
Don Montalvo, TX
I am in a transition process to completely give up on Mac OS X as a server environment.
I moved all my email over to a linux box.
I will move named and dhcp over there soon.
I will keep the OS X server for a little while for AFP and mobile sync. Of course, if I ever upgrade my macbook to ML, mobile sync will die. At that point, I will probably just use smb or nfs for files and forget about mobile sync altogether. Mobil sync was a bear to setup in the first place, and is useless except for documents. I tried sync my photo library, and any change to iPhoto required the whole library to be synced!
DHCP Removed?
