Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 17:34:50 -0500 From: "fbsd_user" <fbsd_user@a1poweruser.com> To: "Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P." <kdk@daleco.biz> Cc: "freebsd-questions@FreeBSD. ORG" <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: RE: need info on hostname Message-ID: <MIEPLLIBMLEEABPDBIEGIELGENAA.fbsd_user@a1poweruser.com> In-Reply-To: <3FBD1E46.4060405@daleco.biz>
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Thanks for your reply, but you missed the meaning of my question. I am not interested in how hostname is used on the public internet and DNS stuff, I know that stuff. I want to know what the FBSD operating system does with it. More explicatively during the install of FBSD when asked to fill in the hostname prompt, what informative information should be given to the user so they can enter the correct stuff. Reading the /etc/hosts file provides no useful info. Is there any place in FBSD that explains how to fill in the install hostname prompt during the install? Something like FBSD uses this hostname internally to name the PC running this FBSD operating system. It has to be us this format of an fully qualified domain name in the format of thisPCname.fakeDOMAINname.tld Where thisPCname came be any name you want to identify this particular pc on your LAN. Where .fakeDOMAINname can be any name you want as long as it's not an registered domain on the public internet unless it's registered to you. Using FBSDyourlastname is an safe domain name to use here. Were .tld can be any of the standard TLD's currently in use. Such as .com or .usa or .info or .cc -----Original Message----- From: Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P. [mailto:kdk@daleco.biz] Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 3:04 PM To: fbsd_user@a1poweruser.com Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD. ORG Subject: Re: need info on hostname Quid pro quo: I'm not an expert, and don't play one on TV. fbsd_user wrote: >During the install you are asked for the host name which adds the >following line to rc.conf. >hostname="gateway.homepc.com" > >What does FBSD use this for? > > DNS? Same stuff as any other system, with the possible exception of that stuff from Redmond. Since 'Nix is/has always been very network oriented, this is its primary means of human readable identification. Or something like that ;) >Did I use the correct format for the host name? > > Yes, more or less. Since homepc.com seems to actually exist, this could either be a good or bad choice, depending on whether or not you own 'homepc.com'. If the machine is on a private network and will do all it's connecting via another box, it could probably get away with 'foo.bar.baz' if you set up your DNS correctly. >What are the rules for creating the hostname name? > > See /etc/hosts. paraphrase ---"If you're directly connected to the internet, you can't just make it up...." >Are the rules published anywhere? > > > I'd check RFC's if I was *real* concerned. The good news? If something about your selected hostname is causing problems, all you have to do (as root) $hostname my.new.name HTH, Kevin Kinsey DaleCo, S.P.
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