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I have taken over a network of Mac Minis at work.
The system was installed by a development company that has gone bust and are uncontactable.

Each of the Mac minis are connected to a Mac pro acting as a server. The minis get their IP address and other settings from the server based on their Hostname.

Can someone tell me where this info is stored on the server so that I can add some new machines to the system ?

Swisstone
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Haggis2019
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  • What version of macOS Server are you using? Apple has removed a lot of features from the latest version (5.7.1), including the UI for configuring DHCP (although the server daemon is part of the base OS). See [Apple support article #HT208312: Prepare for changes to macOS Server 5.7.1](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208312). BTW, if you haven't "upgraded" to 5.7.1 yet, you might not want to... – Gordon Davisson Feb 17 '19 at 02:37
  • BTW, please clarify what you mean clients get their addresses "based on their Hostname". On macOS, the computer's hostname is (generally) derived from a reverse DNS lookup on their IP, so it's not available until later. The only identifying things that're sent with the DHCP request are the MAC address and (if it's set) the DHCP Client ID. The Client ID is usually *not* set, so I'd be surprised if that's it. You can check in Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Network preference pane -> select the relevant network interface ("service") -> click Advanced -> TCP/IP tab. – Gordon Davisson Feb 17 '19 at 02:59
  • I don't know which MacOS the server is running but I will check tomorrow. When a new computer is added to the system (at present this is done only when the old machine has stopped working) a script is run which sets it's hostname (same name as the computer it is replacing) when it reconnects to the server it is allocated an IP address based on it's hostname. What I would like to be able to do is create new hostnames so that new computers can be added to the system. Sorry for being so vague but networking is not my strong point. – Haggis2019 Feb 17 '19 at 15:55
  • In that case, I'd really have to see the script to tell what to do. Also, does it run on the server or on the (new) client? My guess is that it does something like look up the hostname in DNS to get the IP, detect the client's MAC address (how?), and make a static DHCP reservation for that MAC and IP. But that's just a guess... – Gordon Davisson Feb 17 '19 at 20:54
  • The server is running Mac OS x Server 10.6.7. The script is stored locally on the client and is used to simply set the hostname. When the client reboots and connects to the server the IP address is set based on the hostname. I assume this is done via the server looking up the hostname in a file. What I am looking for is where this file is so that it can be edited to add new clients. – Haggis2019 Feb 19 '19 at 11:25

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