Bob Proulx wrote:
Am I correct in assuming that you have modified /sbin/dhclient-script to set the hostname from the dhcp'd hostname? (That is what I did when I was doing this.)
I've created a dhclient-exit-hook script to handle the processing. This checks whether the hostname should be set and completes the process. Only sets it if it really is needed.
I am curious if you have worked with this type of a system previously. I have and I was never satisified with it. For example if the hostname changes due to a dhcp changed IP address while the system is running then X Windows gets very upset and there were other problems.
Luckily the two of these issues won't come in to play here. This is going to be used on a system that does not have X installed and will have a static IP address. We use DHCP to assign the address as it is easier to deploy a new distribution for our customers. The last time dhclient was attempted with this would have been on Debian 5.0. In our most recent Debian 6.0 template someone decided to use dhcpcd, but it requires additional configuration for someone to set their own hostname later on. Not an ideal situation as it is not the default dhcp system and so people do not expect it.
In my case I ended up setting the hostname to localhost. Since the client machines are true thin clients without any external services they don't need to have a hostname. That worked best for me. Perhaps it is something that might be a good option for you? Then it would be very similar to any live-cd boot system.
This doesn't work unfortunately. I work for a popular cloud-services (VPS) provider and this is the template that is being built for deployment of Debian 6.0 systems moving forward. This is the only thing holding me back from being able to replace the current template.
The purpose of this configuration is for a customer to deploy this distribution template and be assigned an IP address, a hostname that is not personal, and be good to go. They can then override dhcp setting the hostname by placing information in '/etc/hostname'.
It's a unique use-case, but in theory it should work. Getty is just a bit too energetic. :p
Thanks for the insight and input, Bob. If I wish I would be able to use one of your recommendations as it would be easier. But just doesn't fit my needs.
-Tim