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How do you export/import DHCP service settings?

With Mac OS X.10 Server the ability to export/import service configuration (DHCP, DNS, File Share, ...) isn't available.

From my understanding this feature has been missing since Mac OS X.6 Server which is an issue if you want a secure backup or if you want to move services from one server to another.

In particular DHCP and DNS.

Are there command line tools using serveradmin to import/export complete service configuration?

Can you copy plist files?

Is there a way to safely migrate

Posted on May 22, 2015 6:18 AM

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Posted on May 22, 2015 8:05 AM

To backup DNS settings you would do the following in Terminal.app


serveradmin settings dns > /path/to/backup/file.txt


DHCP would be


serveradmin settings dhcp > /path/to/backup/file.txt


To restore the settings you would do


serveradmin settings < /path/to/backup/file.txt


Note: These are not plists.

2 replies

Sep 24, 2015 12:33 PM in response to John Lockwood

Good information on using the serveradmin function in Terminal. I was able to successfully backup and restore DNS settings on a Mac Mini server, however the DHCP settings are proving to be a bit more tricky. We have a couple of networks set up as well as about 100 static IP assignments. The exported text file appears to contain all of this data, but when we go to import the file back in via the same server admin command (serveradmin settings < /path/to/backup/file.txt), we get the following output in Terminal:

dhcp:static_maps = _empty_array

User uploaded file

As you can see from the above screenshot, however, there are definitely static maps specified in the exported configuration file. I'm certain the file path is correct, as we used the exact same procedure to successfully bring in DNS records. Fortunately we have a bootable backup of the old server, just in case, but the behavior here is a bit mystifying. The server we are restoring to is a clean installation of both Yosemite 10.10.5 and Server App 5.0.4


Chris

How do you export/import DHCP service settings?

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