Updating DNS names in Apple Remote Desktop
As much as I like it, I’ve had a problem with Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) for a while now. I administer a fairly large number of macs using it, and since I’ve started doing so, I’ve changed their DNS records. Before, their DNS names were more or less random. Now, they match the ID number stuck to the front of each machine, and can be used to rename the macs after imaging.
Only I can’t make ARD pick up the new DNS addresses.
The first time I asked for advice about it, someone suggested that it was the DNS cache on the server ARD was running for that was keeping the old information, but flushing that cache didn’t do me any good. I even tried deleting the computers from the list, and re-adding them by IP address, but something somewhere is still remembering the old DNS names. I can edit the DNS name for each computer manually, but that makes it a bit meaningless.
The DNS name information must be cached somewhere. It doesn’t seem to be on the client computers, as this problem has persisted through numerous reformats, reimaging and nv/pr-ram resets. It doesn’t seem to be on the server OS’ DNS cache. I’m reluctant to uninstall/reinstall ARD, as there’s a lot of configuration data and management tasks saved on there that I don’t want to lose: but I suspect the information is cached somehow within ARD itself.
The ARD manual says that the DNS name field is set using reverse-dns lookups when the machine is added. But this seems not to be wholly true. Reverse-dns lookups all seem to work correctly, from the web and elsewhere. Perhaps the reverse-dns happens when a machine is originally added, but after that point, it seems to remember details even if the computer they’re associated with is deleted from ARD’s management list.
I’ve thought of a nasty hacky way of doing it, but I’m going to give the apple discussion forums a bit of a chance before I try tackling it. Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, please be my guest…
March 12th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
What happens when you run nslookup/dig/host against the name and/or expected IP? What’s the nameserver for your host? What’s the order that it performs name resolution (”lookupd -configuration”)? Have you looked at what’s stored in NetInfo (Applications->Utilities->NetInfo Manager)? I believe the order it checks things are /etc/hosts, NetInfo, then a normal DNS lookup. If the wrong information is held in NetInfo by another computer in the domain (i.e. the server), you might be retrieving bad information from that.
March 12th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
PS DISCLAIMER: I don’t own, nor have I ever owned, a Mac
March 13th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Worried about your reputation, SB? Heheh, maybe you should get a little mac mini, just so you can tell us how nicely windows runs on it
Pinging a machine by dns name works.
nslookup on the IP address returns the correct name
host the same.
LookupOrder (Global Configuration): Cache NI DS
LookupOrder (Host Configuration): Cache FF DNS NI DS
I’ve already tried clearing the cache with lookupd -flushcache
/etc/hosts and lookupd -q host both only bring up localhost and broadcasthost.
Netinfo has information about the grouping of the computers, but only remembers their mac addresses. Besides, I’m fairly confident that ARD doesn’t use the netinfo information.
March 13th, 2007 at 11:11 am
This is hopefully a silly question, but are the mac addresses correct?
March 13th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Yup, silly question
March 13th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
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March 6th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Does my mac adresse change if I upgrade my computer with some other hardware? For example change the graphic card?
March 8th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
your MAC address is tied to your network interfaces. So, no.
November 5th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Did you ever get a resolution to this? I have a similar problem which might be related to the same root cause. I have a range of addresses set aside for remote VPN clients, who log on and off throughout the day from various locations around the country. Thus, one IP address can wind up being used by several different machines in the course of a single day.
ARD “remembers” who got the IP first that day and if someone picks up the IP later, it still thinks the original machine still has it. My only fix, so far, has been to force a re-adding of the machine to the All Computers list by Adding Address.
A cleaner way of clearing whatever caches ARD is drawing from would be much more desirable.
November 5th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Hi Brian - check out the next post for my solution. I know it’s not ideal, but I hope it comes in handy as a basis for a last resort work-around.
Is it particularly the DNS records that you want to refresh, or is there other bits of information being cached?
Let us know how it works out - I’ve left the world of IT support behind for a glamorous life in digital publishing, but it’s always interesting to hear mac support stories!
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