How can I assign a hostname to my MediaMVP?

[zubblwump]

This isn't a big issue, but I want to see a hostname associated with my Media MVP when I look at my DHCP clients table. Everything works fine, but I just don't like that blank hostname.

I've used telnet to log into my MVP and I can change the hostname there, but it reverts back to (none) when I reboot the MVP. I'm guessing this is in the "mvp.bin" that is copied to the MVP when it boots? If so, is there any way to edit the mvp.bin to include a hostname?

Hopefully someone undestands how all this works and can tell how to do it.

Thanks

[bcjenkins]

interesting concept.. Is the benefit so you'll know at a glance that it is an MVP device? I guess you could send an email to SageTV with a request that they add a little code in their startup scripts in the bin file which sets the hostname to sagetvmvp-last6ofmac or something like that. That should ensure uniqueness to places with more than one unit.

Otherwise, you can control units via nielm's webserver and the units can be named there.

B

[GKusnick]

I expect the answer depends on what DHCP table you're looking at. My router lets me assign specific IP addresses and host names to specific MAC addresses. If you're using Windows Server for DHCP, you can do a similar thing with reservations, or you can assign static mappings via WINS.

[zubblwump]

Yeah, the only real reason I want this is so I can quickly identify the MVP in the DHCP table. I've been able to assign hostnames to all my other devices, but for a while I was getting three or more devices without hostnames (the MVP, a print sever, etc) making it very difficult to know which was the MVP.

It should be very easy to add a hostname to the mvp.bin so my router sees that when the MVP connects, but I don't know if and/or how I can edit that file.

GKusnick,

What router do you have? I use a Linksys BEFSRU31, and as far as i know, it does not allow me to assign hostnames to MAc addresses.

[GKusnick]

Mine's a Netgear FVS318. Looks like your Linksys doesn't support DHCP reservations at all, so never mind.

You could always write your MVP's MAC address on a yellow sticky and paste it to your monitor.

[zubblwump]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

You could always write your MVP's MAC address on a yellow sticky and paste it to your monitor.

That's almost what I've done, although I've taken it a step further and printed out my DHCP table. works fine if I'm at the same computer, but I may be on a laptop or other computer. Oh well, not a big issue, just something I was wondering if anybody had figured out.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

I expect the answer depends on what DHCP table you're looking at. My router lets me assign specific IP addresses and host names to specific MAC addresses. If you're using Windows Server for DHCP, you can do a similar thing with reservations, or you can assign static mappings via WINS.

What kind of router to you have? I have a Linsys router that does not have that feature. I would like to assign static IP to the MVPs with their MAC addresses so they do not float around with DHCP.

Dave

[CollinR]

tftpd32 will allow you to assign static IPs to MVP clients, in turn you can also call out these IPs in the clients.properties which makes connecting MVPs much easier. tftpd32 is also free software however you will need to use servany or the like to keep it running as a service in Windows. You DO want this running as a system service and the SageTV server must be available 24/7 to doll out the configuration to clients.


I do not use the tftp side to transfer the mvp.bin but I assume you could.