changeip and Server.app 3.0.1

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Level 6

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changeip and Server.app 3.0.1

I have three Mac minis running Mavericks 10.9, each has Server.app 3.0.1 installed. Of these one only has Server.app installed to allow managing the other two servers.

Only one of these three Mac minis has 'changeip' installed, I can understand why the 'management' Mac does not have it installed despite having Server.app installed and this is because it has not been told to install the server components and merely to connect to the other two servers. However I am puzzled why one of the other two Mac does not have it available since I have full installed it on both.

Any suggestions on how to get changeip to show-up on the problem Mac? Other than manually copying all the relevant files? If the later is the only way a full list of files and paths would be appreciated so that man pages etc. also work.

Thanks.

PS. The two real servers were both fresh installs.

Posted on Dec 6, 2013 5:24 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 6, 2013 6:36 AM in response to John Lockwood

Under Mavericks Server, use of changeip is no longer required. Simply make sure the server has the correct IP address when shown in the Network System Preferences panel and, sometimes, reboot.

https://help.apple.com/advancedserveradmin/mac/3.0/#apd5527B93F-F572-4257-B378-0 D0605B9FBF9

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Answer 2

John Lockwood Author

Level 6

13,697 points

Dec 6, 2013 6:38 AM in response to Simon Slavin

I am aware changeip no longer does a changeip but I find it a more informative test as to whether the hostname and reverse DNS are correctly configured and as such helpful even if the server in question is not going to be an OD Master or Replica. I would therefore like to have it and my other server has it and is running the same versions this implies it should be possible.

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Answer 3

Dec 6, 2013 6:44 AM in response to John Lockwood

I believe you'll find changeip on a Mavericks server only if it is an upgrade from an earlier version of OS X Server.

In Mavericks, each time the computers primary internet connection needs to know their IP number, they call the OS which will tell them.

In previous versions of OS X Server, most services have the computer's IP address saved in a configuration file somewhere, and the 'changeip' program was used to rewrite all these configuration files and restart the services.

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Answer 4

John Lockwood Author

Level 6

13,697 points

Dec 6, 2013 6:55 AM in response to Simon Slavin

I fixed it. It turns out that changeip is stored within Server.app itself. I had on the problem server run Server.app and completed the install but not logged out. As a result while Server.app and services can fine the environment variables had not taken effect as these were not reloaded until a fresh login.

Therefore it did not know the path to the changeip files.

I have done a reboot and it is now able to find it.

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Answer 5

MrHoffman

Level 10

146,479 points

Dec 6, 2013 8:38 AM in response to Simon Slavin

Simon Slavin wrote:

I believe you'll find changeip on a Mavericks server only if it is an upgrade from an earlier version of OS X Server.

Just checked a clean-installed Mavericks Server box to confirm: changeip is available.

The command is not found on Mavericks client installs, but that's not a change from the past.

Simon Slavin wrote:

In Mavericks, each time the computers primary internet connection needs to know their IP number, they call the OS which will tell them.

In previous versions of OS X Server, most services have the computer's IP address saved in a configuration file somewhere, and the 'changeip' program was used to rewrite all these configuration files and restart the services.

changeip could mess with the settings yes, but changeip -checkhostname is a common diagnostic for DNS and network errors. It works on the local Mavericks Server test box, and that got nuked and paved for Mavericks.

$ locate changeip

....

/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/changeip

...

cat that for details.

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