Static or dynamic hostids?

Trunnell · 10-03-2006, 10:09 AM

When we enter "hostid" on the system, we get back an ID. Howewer, this ID seems to change periodically! I thought the hostid was set and remained forever. Kind of like a serial number, unique to one item and associated to it forever. I have more of a background in UNIX and thought it would act the same way in Linux. Have I missed something? Thank you!

Tinkster · 10-03-2006, 12:47 PM

Hi,

and welcome to LQ!

Code:

`hostid': Print numeric host identifier.
========================================

   `hostid' prints the numeric identifier of the current host in
hexadecimal.  This command accepts no arguments.  The only options are
`--help' and `--version'.  *Note Common options::.

   For example, here's what it prints on one system I use:

     $ hostid
     1bac013d

   On that system, the 32-bit quantity happens to be closely related to
the system's Internet address, but that isn't always the case.

   An exit status of zero indicates success, and a nonzero value
indicates failure.

That's from info coreutils hostid. Doesn't sound like they are static
if they're tied to IPs.

Cheers,
Tink