From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Feb 19 00:41:18 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id AAA02437 for freebsd-questions-outgoing; Thu, 19 Feb 1998 00:41:18 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from superior.mooseriver.com (dynamic51.pm02.sf3d.best.com [209.24.234.115]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id AAA02425 for ; Thu, 19 Feb 1998 00:41:14 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jgrosch@superior.mooseriver.com) Received: (from jgrosch@localhost) by superior.mooseriver.com (8.8.8/8.8.5) id AAA15216; Thu, 19 Feb 1998 00:41:13 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <19980219004112.26662@mooseriver.com> Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 00:41:12 -0800 From: Josef Grosch To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: hostid equals Ethernet address or IP address ? Reply-To: jgrosch@superior.mooseriver.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.79 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Maybe someone can explain this for me... Gethostid(3) says "Sethostid() establishes a 32-bit identifier for the current processor that is intended to be unique among all UNIX systems in existence. This is normally a DARPA Internet address for the local machine. " The first sentence says that the identifier "is intended to be unique among all UNIX systems in existence", ie. an Ethernet address. The second sentence seems to contradict the first in that, for the local machine, the hostid is based on the machines IP address. AFAIK, an Ethernet address is guaranteed to be unique but an IP address is not guaranteed. Of course, I mean all UNIX machines not just those connected to a given network Should the hostid be based on an Ethernet address or an IP address? Any pointers to revelant documents would be helpful. Josef -- Josef Grosch | Another day closer to a | FreeBSD 2.2.5 jgrosch@MooseRiver.com | Micro$oft free world | UNIX for the masses To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message