hostname and fully qualified domain name setup help

strimp099 · 01-10-2005, 10:00 PM

Hello,
The end result of this quest in my Linux adventures is to set up a server to talk to the world. However, I am experiencing noob type issues.

I am having trouble with my fully qualified domain name generally. When I install linux (FC2) I have an option to enter the hostname. What has that to do with the fully qualified domain name? When entering the hostname of the machine, is it mymachine, or mymachine.net, or www.mymachine.net or what? Then, when entering a FQDM (to configure Courier-IMAP for instance) is it hostname.domainname.net? I am really confused about this.

Any help?

Thank you

fotoguy · 01-11-2005, 01:37 AM

The hostname is the name of that particular machine, for example 'workstation01' this is used to recognise that computer on a network.

The qualified domain name or workgroup name (windoze) is the name you give to a group of computers, for example 'myplace.com'. Then for that machine the full hostname for that computer will be 'workstation01.myplace.com'.

For your network lan you don't have to place a .com, .net or .org etc..... at the end of the quailified domain name, unless of course you own a domain name, then by all means you can use it.

But because it is not open to the world you can just call it 'myplace'. So your full name will be 'workstation01.myplace'.

scowles · 01-11-2005, 06:12 AM

I have always entered the FQDN when prompted for the hostname during the redhat/FC install process. By doing so, the install script will add the proper "search" entry to /etc/resolv.conf. This also results in the following commands working properly:

Code:

[scowles@excelsior scowles]$ hostname --short
excelsior
[scowles@excelsior scowles]$ hostname --domain
mydomain.com
[scowles@excelsior scowles]$ hostname --fqdn
excelsior.mydomain.com
[scowles@excelsior scowles]$ ping defiant
PING defiant.mydomain.com (192.168.9.2) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from defiant.mydomain.com (192.168.9.2): icmp_seq=0 ttl=127 time=1.09 ms

As for the name you assign duing the install process.... I use a Startrek theme like excelsior, enterprise, voyager, reliant, etc... For the most part, the name I assign will never be used again because all the applications running on this server can be configured to use another more "meaningful" hostsname. Example:

MTA (sendmail or postfix) = mail.mydomain.com
Apache = www.mydomain.com
Samba = Register as fserv1 for MS networking and browsing. Also join MS AD domain.
etc...

Obviously, you would need to add the above names (aliases) to DNS or /etc/hosts for this to work properly.

strimp099 · 01-11-2005, 02:55 PM

Thank you all, the info was very helpful!

fotoguy · 01-11-2005, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by strimp099
Thank you all, the info was very helpful!

Glad to help

DavidPhillips · 01-11-2005, 10:31 PM

Do you have a domain name?

Did you register a name on the internet and set it to your ip address on the registrar's site?

strimp099 · 01-13-2005, 11:20 PM

No, I have not even gotten that far yet. I am just experimenting with the soft/hardware of just creating a Linux server. But I am sure I will be back when I get to that point.

DavidPhillips · 01-14-2005, 10:07 PM

It wont work until you have real names to work with. If your testing setup dns or /etc/hosts.