Re: Persisting a one-off hostname change
On 27 February 2012 17:05, Bob Proulx <bob@proulx.com> wrote:
> I would do it later in runlevel 2 (same as 2-5). Even at the very end
> would be fine. You could use "Required-Start: $all" if you like.
I'll try it.
> Alternatively instead of a random name have you considered using the
> name it gets from reverse dns lookup of the ip address?
The IP address will change depending on where it's plugged in, so it
won't be constant for a given device.
> Be sure to understand The Birthday Paradox if you go down the path of
> random hostnames. It surprises people who are not aware of it.
Heh, yes, I know about that! I'm pretty sure, given the number of
total devices, there will be enough room in the
random-letter-number-space.
> Of course I am sitting here thinking that other hosts use dns to look
> up the name and to get an ip address. That is independent of the
> hostname that actually exists on the host at that address. And so the
> hostname is rather irrelevant.
>
> But I see now you mentioning avahi and netbios and some other scruffy
> protocols that I have never taken the time to understand. So I will
> stop while I am behind. :-)
mDNS (and NetBIOS, maybe?) operate a bit differently, I think. I mean,
you're half right — either way, the technician has to log in to the
machine to find out what the IP/random string is. BUT when there's a
bunch of other things plugged in to the network, it'll be much easier
to find it if there's an obvious prefix. Plus there's the fact that
the IP address will not be consistent, and will not allow us to
identify the machine again later, or if it's offline.
Cheers,
Jason
Reply to: