Mac Networking Issue

[Kyocera]

I have to install network scanners in Mac environments sometimes, these scanners are connected via nic using IP address. The scanner software (which is configured via telnet to scanner nic) needs either the IP address of the user's PC or Host name. In DHCP environments I will use the host name of the PC as this remains constant whereas IP leases will expire unless configured not to (I have to adapt my software to work however the network admins have theirs set up).

Whenever I try using the computer name of a mac OSX, which I find in the sharing folder in preferences, I can't get a connection so I have to use the ip address. Is there a DNS issue with mac's on a mixed network?

[Nebzar]

Whenever I try using the computer name of a mac OSX, which I find in the sharing folder in preferences, I can't get a connection so I have to use the ip address. Is there a DNS issue with mac's on a mixed network?

I may be wrong, but the name you see in the sharing folder in preferences looks to me like a "local" name or at most an Appletalk name, so the DNS server of your domain may be unaware of it and thus unable to answer to dns queries for that name...

[carbon_unit]

I may be wrong, but the name you see in the sharing folder in preferences looks to me like a "local" name or at most an Appletalk name, so the DNS server of your domain may be unaware of it and thus unable to answer to dns queries for that name...

I think you are right. I have a couple of macs at home and while they can see each other the windows or linux computers cannot see them. The appletalk names do not work with windows networking. It is not a DNS problem but more of a network protocol mixing problem.
This may help: http://lowendmac.com/mac2win/02/1007.html

[Kyocera]

Thanks a lot guys. I can get away with using static IP's on in house pc's but when people use their laptops and switch from home to work network this creates the problems.

[Nebzar]

Looks like there is a dynamic dns, tightly coupled with dhcp. So, when an IP lease expires and a new IP is assigned, the dns gets informed and updates the mapping from host name (fixed) to IP address (changing).

To this exent, in my opinion, pc's must be somehow registered (e.g. by means of their MAC address) in the dhcp and/or dns server.

Clients that are not registered, most likely, will receive just an IP from dhcp but NOT a dns name, and thus are reachable only with the numeric address.

I expect that this problem affects in the same way win and mac os machines, unless win machines use some proprietary win protocol to overcome the problem.

Regards