Re: "hostname" question during Debian installation

[Martin T <m4rtntns@gmail.com>]

Andrei, Tom:

thank you for replies! So am I correct, that hostname set during the
installation is:

1) mapped to an address from 127.0.0.0/8 range in /etc/hosts file
2) written to /etc/mailname
3) written to "message of the day" file
4) usually used in shell prompt(for example "\[\e]0;\u@\h:
\w\a\]${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$")

..and this is it? Or did I miss any other uses of the "hostname"? For
some reason I always thought that hostname is definitely used by at
least other hosts in the LAN and local processing running in the
server, but turns out out was wrong(?). I mean one needs to configure
local processes(for example cupsd or snmpd) to use "hostname" IP
address if he wants to- by default they all use 127.0.0.1 which is
mapped to "localhost" in /etc/hosts file.


regards,
martin



Kuupäeval 13. veebruar 2012 15:21 kirjutas Tom H <tomh0665@gmail.com>:
> On Sun, Feb 12, 2012 at 8:16 PM, Martin T <m4rtntns@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>> During Debian installation there is a question about "hostname" using
>> expert installation mode.
>
> In both modes but I don't think that "regular" mode asks you for a domain.
>
>
>> Am I correct, that "hostname" inserted during Debian installation is
>> associated with a local(address from 127.0.0.0/8 range) IP address:
>
> If you choose "DHCP".
>
>
>> martin@martin-ThinkPad-T60:~$ hostname
>> martin-ThinkPad-T60
>> martin@martin-ThinkPad-T60:~$ grep martin-ThinkPad-T60 /etc/hosts
>> 192.168.1.67    martin-ThinkPad-T60
>> ::1     martin-ThinkPad-T60     localhost6.localdomain6 localhost6
>> 127.0.1.1       martin-ThinkPad-T60
>> martin@martin-ThinkPad-T60:~$
>
> You must've set a static IP address after installation because the
> installer doesn't have the "127.0.1.1" line if you set a static IP
> address within it.
>
>
>> ..and it's used by few software programs(for example Apache, MySQL),
>> but hostname is usable only locally and not reachable from any other
>> machine even inside the LAN? In addition, aren't most of the programs
>> using 127.0.0.1 address which is mapped to "localhost" in /etc/hosts
>> file not to hostname I set:
>>
>> <<<<<
>> martin@martin-desktop:~$ sudo netstat -lnpt
>> Active Internet connections (only servers)
>> Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address
>> State       PID/Program name
>> tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:8118          0.0.0.0:*
>> LISTEN      1233/polipo
>> tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:631           0.0.0.0:*
>> LISTEN      1057/cupsd
>> tcp6       0      0 ::1:631                 :::*
>> LISTEN      1057/cupsd
>> martin@martin-desktop:~$
>>>>>>>
>>
>> If yes, then changing the hostname shouldn't break any
>> services/programs associated with it?
>
> You're getting "127.0.0.1" in your netstat output because you're using
> the "-n" switch. Without "-n" you'll get "localhost".
>
> To change your hostname, check "/etc/hostname", "/etc/hosts",  and
> "/etc/mailname".
>
>
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