ARD Admin 3.7.1 Fixer - a script to cause ARD Admin to effectively "forget" all cached IP and DNS information for known computers. This deals with a problem in ARD Admin 3.7.1 where it seems to be too aggressive in caching this information

ARDFixer.command

#!/bin/bash

SCRIPT_VERSION="1.0"

# some background info here: https://discussions.apple.com/message/24596710#24596710
# verify ARD Admin version
# quit ARD Admin - if running, wait 10 seconds
# kill cfprefsd
# rename plist
# sed

plist_path="$HOME/Library/Containers/com.apple.RemoteDesktop/Data/Library/Preferences"
plist_name="com.apple.RemoteDesktop.plist"
plist_backup="com.apple.RemoteDesktop-backup.plist"



VerfiyARDAdmin()
{
	if [ -d "/Applications/Remote Desktop.app" ]; then
		version=$(defaults read "/Applications/Remote Desktop.app/Contents/Info" CFBundleVersion)

		major_version=$(echo "$version" | cut -d. -f1)
		minor_version=$(echo "$version" | cut -d. -f2)
		bugfix_version=$(echo "$version" | cut -d. -f3)

		if [[ "$major_version" == "3" ]] && [[ "$minor_version" == "7" ]] && [[ "$bugfix_version" == "1" ]]; then
			echo "Remote Desktop Admin 3.7.1 installed, proceeding to fix...."
		else
			echo "### ERROR: Remote Desktop Admin $version installed. Requires 3.7.1..."
			exit 1
		fi
	else
		echo "### ERROR: Remote Desktop Admin not installed"
		exit 1
	fi
}

QuitARD()
{
	app="Remote Desktop"

	ignore=$(ps -A | egrep -i "$app" | grep -v grep)
	isopen=$?

	if [ $isopen != 1 ]; then
	{
		echo "Quitting Remote Desktop..."
		osascript -e "tell application \"Remote Desktop\"" -e 'quit' -e 'end tell'
		sleep 15		# give cfprefsd enough time to flush the the preferences
	}
	fi
}

QuitCFPrefsDaemon()
{
	echo "Quitting CFPrefs Caching Daemon..."
	killall cfprefsd
}

ProcessPList()
{
	echo "Backing up Remote Desktop plist..."
	cd "$plist_path"
	mv -f "$plist_path/$plist_name" "$plist_path/$plist_backup"

	echo "Converting plist to XML...."
	plutil -convert xml1 "$plist_path/$plist_backup"
	
	echo "Editing Remote Desktop plist..."
	
	pattern1="<key>hostname<\/key>/<key>blah_1<\/key>"
	pattern2="<key>hostnames<\/key>/<key>blah_2<\/key>"
	pattern3="<key>networkAddress<\/key>/<key>blah_3<\/key>"
	pattern4="<key>networkAddresses<\/key>/<key>blah_4<\/key>"
	pattern5="<key>primaryIdentfier<\/key>/<key>blah_5<\/key>"
	
	sed "s/$pattern1/g;s/$pattern2/g;s/$pattern3/g;s/$pattern4/g;s/$pattern5/g" "$plist_path/$plist_backup" > "$plist_path/$plist_name"

	echo "Converting plist to binary...."
	plutil -convert binary1 "$plist_path/$plist_name"
}

clear
VerfiyARDAdmin
QuitARD
QuitCFPrefsDaemon
ProcessPList

exit 0

Since this script clears the "DNS Name" attribute for every machine in the All Computers list, how do you go about repopulating this field? I'm sure with the size of your network, doing it manually for every machine would not be reasonable.

@cjduckk I assume it picks them up from the scanner, I did this and reloaded my scanners by subnet and had 1100 macs updated almost immediately.

p.s. thanks for the script, ARD 3.7.1 had become unusable for me, this definitely helps.