Hostname Error

Posted on
Mon Dec 26, 2016 12:04 pm
BradTombaugh offline
Posts: 10
Joined: Oct 18, 2014

Re: Hostname Error

I had the same error on my Mini, as I'm also running server...

If you aren't already running the DNS service on your Server, you can "fix" this issue by enabling DNS service in Server.app, and creating an entry for your machine.

Let me try to remember the steps that I did last night:

Check your advanced IP configuration, DNS tab, and write down what you are currently using for DNS servers, like 8.8.8.8 for Google, or 75.75.75.75 for ComCast. Also note your Server's IP, Subnet mask,and Router addresses. You use this later...

Open Server.app
click on DNS

click the + to add an entry
enter the hostname as it appears in Server
enter the "local IP" of your server as it is on your internal network

set the Permissions for "only local network"
check "Perform lookups for: Only Some Clients"

click "Edit Lookup Clients"
Select: The Server Itself, and Clients on the local network

Click Edit Forwarding Servers
click +, and add the DNS server address that you were using previously as noted above

If you haven't already, Click the "ON" switch to enable DNS.

Now open System Preferences > Network on the Server

Configure your IP settings for the Server to be "Manual," if they weren't already. I had previously been using "DHCP with Manual Address"
Set your IP as it was before, along with the submit mask and router/gateway addresses.
Click on the "Advanced" button, then click on the "DNS" tab
Click + to add your server's IP, either as 127.0.0.1, which is the "loopback address" or enter the manually configured IP on your local network

Now you have a choice. You may have already had your other DNS server addresses listed here. You can either drag your newly added address to the top of the list, or completely remove the other addresses from the list with the - button.

If you leave the other addresses, then you can still do DNS lookups even if Server isn't running, or if your Server's DNS server gets turned off. This can be useful when updating the Server app. This is the approach that I suggest. If you leave only your server's address, you have to keep DNS running. I've had updates fail when server is stopped during the update, as it can't connect to the update server,

Your server will basically be a "cacheing only DNS server" and will forward other lookups to the DNS servers you configured in the Forwarding Servers setup earlier. Now your machine will ask itself for it's address, and will return the IP that you added to the DNS record...

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