How to create OS X Server Admin firewall rules using ip address groups by command line? The (Lion) Server Admin.app has a nice ability to apply firewall rules to ip address groups without having to edit ipfw config files.

But having to enter large and long lists of IP addresses using the Server Admin GUI is a tedious task.

Therefore I am wondering how can a firewall IP address group be made from the command line?

I know there is a /usr/sbin/serveradmin which has the ability to output settings, like using $ sudo serveradmin settings ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:10-net:* which outputs:

ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:10-net:rules = _empty_array
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:10-net:readOnly = no
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:10-net:allowAll = no
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:10-net:addresses:_array_index:0 = "10.0.0.0/8"
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:10-net:name = "10-net"


Which one can dump to a file using $ sudo serveradmin settings ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:10-net:* &gt; 10-net.txt. But then editing that file to rename it to a new group, like:

ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:rules = _empty_array
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:readOnly = no
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:allowAll = no
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:addresses:_array_index:0 = "11.0.0.0/8"
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:name = "11-net"


and loading that into serveradmin using $ sudo serveradmin settings &lt; 10-net.txt doesn't create a new "ipAddressGroupsWithRules" rule in ipfilter. As verified using $ sudo serveradmin settings ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:*.

What am I doing wrong?
After 12 hours of searching and and not finding any example for ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules this https://help.apple.com/advancedserveradmin/mac/10.7/#apdA0111C46-F018-4C2C-B8D1-EDAEF73AC27E brought a helpful insight.

The only thing that need to be changed to create a new rule, and not update an existing one, is a first line that creates the rule. For example:

ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net = create
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:readOnly = no
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:allowAll = no
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:addresses:_array_index:0 = "11.0.0.0/8"
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:name = "11-net"


Now the output of $ sudo serveradmin settings &lt; 10-net.txt is no longer:

ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules = _empty_array


but:

ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:readOnly = no
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:allowAll = no
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:addresses:_array_index:0 = "11.0.0.0/8"
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:rules = _empty_array
ipfilter:ipAddressGroupsWithRules:_array_id:11-net:name = "11-net"


Which is the synonym for that entering the new setting succeeded.