Mac OS X clients getting wrong DNS names

Hi, so we've had macs here for a long time. We eventually got them working with the Active Directory, and with this I thought would also come the DNS or DDNS names i.e. mymac.instituation.ac.uk (for local network stuff). I must iterate here that this is just for internal name lookups, nothing external here, no internet related stuff, intranet ONLY.

So, it worked on most of them. After adding them to active directory, they got their names: 'mymac1.institution.ac.uk', but for about 1 in 5 macs (we have about 150) it'll give it the DNS name of some random machine in college! So instead of it saying 'mymac.institution.ac.uk' it'll say 'somonesPC.institution.ac.uk' !!!!!

I've put up with it for about 7 years, just used the mac sharing name instead, and remembering IP addresses. But we're trying to integrate the macs further into the network, and this is perhaps one of the last hurdles.

Anyway, I did some searching and found this quite frustrating forum. Seems lots of people not communicating very well. At the end, someone suggested this solution. I've yet to try it but if anyone has any comments?


So, I've now found a command which changes: Computer Name, Host Name, Local Host Name:
scutil --get ComputerName
scutil --get HostName
scutil --get LocalHostName

The Computer Name and Local Host Name is the one set up through System Preferences > Sharing, at the top


scutil --get ComputerName|scutil --set HostName

Find the IP address of a computer with know MAC address (ethernet ID)

So, on my server it is reporting an issue with a computer with MAC address AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF (obviously I made this one up).

Trouble is, I know this computers MAC address but not it's IP address. So how do you find it?

Well, found this forum and this forum which basically tells you to use the command 'arp':

arp -a | grep "AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF "

arp lists all MAC address of computers on your subnet. But it's taking a long time. Reading more in the forum it looks like it works by pinging all the IP addresses, then asking it for it's MAC address. Long winded!

HP Designjet 130 IP Address

One of the most annoying things I have to deal with is printers' IP addresses. This is especially difficult if the printer doesn't have a screen. Take the HP Designjet 130. It actually has a screen, but cannot represent digits. Not only this, but on top of this, it only has 3 buttons, none of which mention "setup". So, when the computer cannot send jobs to the printer how do you find out what is wrong? Well:

1. load up a browser window and browse to the last known IP address of the printer...
1. no response.
2. ping the IP address which you think it has......
1. no response.
3. hold in the power button (while it's switched on) and press the paper feed button 4 times!!!!!!!
1. it should print some (not sure how many) pages of information. 1st one has IP address.

I do remember wanting to write this down about 7 months ago but I can't find it anywhere. Anyway, here it is.

P.S. 

HP, could you please make the instruction number 3 in the list above more self-explanatory. i.e. have a button or just hold in the power button for setup printouts. 4 button presses is over the top.