en0’s MAC address is a decent choice. It’s virtually guaranteed (except in the case of manufacturer error) to be unique, although it is hard to have a user read it to you. There’s code to determine the MAC address for en0 in Bombich’s AD binding script.

A less decent but possible choice is the serial number of the machine–this should be available through system_profiler. However, after replacing a computer ‘s logic board the serial number usually becomes inaccessible.

We’re using the user’s shortnames, which is fraught with pain for changing them when machines change hands. However, it’s unbelievably handy for remotely assisting people across the network.

Whatever you pick, you’d have to set it at startup of a freshly built machine. The basic idea is as follows:[code]scutilPath=/usr/sbin/scutil
hostName=somethingUnique

$scutilPath –set ComputerName $hostName
$scutilPath –set LocalHostName $hostName[/code]- Patrick

thanks to this thread, I just figured out a way to make my first run script a little bit better.
when i have it done i will post it (with as many mentions of who created what parts as i can remember).
what I got from here is a way (reliable so far) of naming the machine and putting the mac address into the report it will generate for record keeping.
THANK YOU!
(I am so damn busy that anything I can grab without having to work out is a huge help

I did something similar for host names (computer names).

I took Bombich’s script to set the name from NetRestore and modified it to run at each boot. I wrote a script that downloads a CSV file from my website so that I can update hostnames. The CSV file is replaced daily on the laptops connected to the internet.

I would have preferred using MCX, but we didn’t have time to set it up. There is probably a better way, but I couldn’t find a way to lock down the host name on the laptops either and I had to keep the host names the same through the year (k-12). I’d still like to know how to lock a share name without MCX or the script.

[code]#!/bin/bash

##Script to test for the availability of internet and download, copy, and overwrite a csv file that has updated computer names.

#Set loop variable.
viperecho=FALSE

while [ $viperecho = ‘FALSE’ ];do
# If block to test internet availability
if ping -nc 3 http://mywebserver.com | grep ‘100%’ >/dev/null 2>&1 ;
then
echo “failed to connect to server”
else
cd /tmp
mkdir ownhard
pwd
# This is to copy file from webserver to localhost
echo “Downloading computer names file”
curl http://mywebserver.com/managment/computernames/computernames.csv > /tmp/ownhard/computernames.csv
echo “Done downloading”
cp /tmp/ownhard/computernames.csv /Library/Scripts/ETC/sharenames/ownhard.csv
echo “Exiting Loop”
viperecho=TRUE
fi
done[/code]