Enable Dns Updates For Mac Client Windows Server Dhcp
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Software Updates For Mac
> The IT guy (at home today) said probably something with the bad way mac handles DNS
Man, what a jerk.
There's nothing wrong with the way Mac handles DNS, but I guess that's not the point - blaming the Mac puts the problem in your court rather than his.
The problem (if it's a problem) is mostly cosmetic.
In the Windows network your admins are problably using Windows Server's DNS service (man, if you want to talk about BAD DNS...). It's likely that it's configured to support dynamic DNS such that it updates the DNS zone with hostnames for DHCP clients.
Normally, DHCP will assign each machine an IP address out of a pool. Since you can't predict what your IP address will be you can't configure DNS. However, in dynamic DNS, the DHCP server updates the zone files each time a host is connected - kind of like saying 'joe's machine is here today'.
The Mac isn't providing the information that the DHCP server needs in order to update the DNS, so the DNS server doesn't get notified when your machine connects. Therefore your DNS entry has the name of whoever last used the IP address you currently have assigned - in this case 'xp-joesmoe'.
Off hand I don't know specifically how the Windows client sends its name - I'm guessing via the DHCP Client ID, but I'm not certain - it might be via Active Directory. You can try setting a DHCP Client ID in System Preferences -> Network to see if it helps, alternatively ask the dor^H^H^H admin if you can have a static IP address for your Macs.
Finally, I say this is mostly cosmetic since it doesn't actually affect anything on your Mac at all, unless people are trying to get to your machine, in which case they can't do it via DNS. If your machine is running as a server, though, I'd move it to a static IP address anyway since running servers on a DHCP address is a PITA (I'm sure all those Windows servers have static addresses).
Man, what a jerk.
There's nothing wrong with the way Mac handles DNS, but I guess that's not the point - blaming the Mac puts the problem in your court rather than his.
The problem (if it's a problem) is mostly cosmetic.
In the Windows network your admins are problably using Windows Server's DNS service (man, if you want to talk about BAD DNS...). It's likely that it's configured to support dynamic DNS such that it updates the DNS zone with hostnames for DHCP clients.
Normally, DHCP will assign each machine an IP address out of a pool. Since you can't predict what your IP address will be you can't configure DNS. However, in dynamic DNS, the DHCP server updates the zone files each time a host is connected - kind of like saying 'joe's machine is here today'.
The Mac isn't providing the information that the DHCP server needs in order to update the DNS, so the DNS server doesn't get notified when your machine connects. Therefore your DNS entry has the name of whoever last used the IP address you currently have assigned - in this case 'xp-joesmoe'.
Off hand I don't know specifically how the Windows client sends its name - I'm guessing via the DHCP Client ID, but I'm not certain - it might be via Active Directory. You can try setting a DHCP Client ID in System Preferences -> Network to see if it helps, alternatively ask the dor^H^H^H admin if you can have a static IP address for your Macs.
Finally, I say this is mostly cosmetic since it doesn't actually affect anything on your Mac at all, unless people are trying to get to your machine, in which case they can't do it via DNS. If your machine is running as a server, though, I'd move it to a static IP address anyway since running servers on a DHCP address is a PITA (I'm sure all those Windows servers have static addresses).
Enable Dns Updates For Mac Client Windows Server Dhcp Server
DHCP server has options: Enable DNS dynamic updates according to the settings below - Enabled. Always dynamically update DNS A and PTR records - Enabled. Discard A and PTR records when lease is deleted - Enabled. Dynamically update DNS A and PTR records for DHCP clients that do not request updates - Enabled. User account to update DNS records is not set on DHCP advanced settings. It does depend upon the exact circumstances under which you are in. Normally in a Windows network, the client registers its own forward lookup 'A' record and the DHCP and DNS servers should be configured to allow the DHCP server to register the reverse lookup 'PTR' records on behalf of the clients.