hi

how do u change the name of the machine in mandrake (i'm running 10.1)
i skipped over the network setup by mistake on the install and can't find where to change it now

thanks

graham

You could change this in the Mandrake Control Center, or you could open up a terminal and use the 'hostname' command to change it manually.

hi

i tried that but it didn't seem to work
i also read the info for hostname and it said something about changing it in the /etc/hosts which i did
i then rebooted to make sure but nothing had changed.
at the command line it still displayed graham@psychedelic and when i typed 'hostname' it still came back with psychedelic

this above is on my server which i decided to change as well. the original prob was on my laptop where i didn't have one at all and came up with some random number (i thing it was the last section of its ip address) but anyway i used the hostname command with the name i wanted and after reboot it just displays localhost not the name i wanted.


i also can't for the life of me find where in control panel to change this

thanks

graham

The hostname is usually associated with the first ethernet device (eth0) on your system.

Go into the networking tabs and change it there under the MCC as required.

ok thanks opjose i found it, changed it and it worked

now while we on this topic how do i change the workgroup or atleast domain name of the machine/network

thanks

graham

Workgroup and domain name are two totally separate things, usually.

Microsoft has redefined what they mean by "domain name" to be a bit more in line with INTERNET domain names, but Microsoft domain names refer to a local grouping of computers dominated or controlled by domain controllers.

Internet domain names differ from Microsoft's weird definition and attempt to usurp the term domain name...

A workgroup is a grouping of peer machines which usually use net bios mechanisms to communicate with each other....

Ok enough of the drivel by me...

Linux uses Samba to communicate to remote Windows machines. For Linux to be a member of a MS workgroup, your machine must be running Samba in server mode.

If your machine merely needs to provide access to Windows shares, Samba can run in a pseudo client mode. The latter can be controlled via the KDE control panel plugin (BTW: If it is not present update your KDE install via the repository and it will appear...)

The KDE pluging only controls remote windows machine browsing though, but it does request the "credentials" which you wish to provide to the remote machines.. which consist of username, password, and workgroup.

There are also Samba wizards for the MCC which will do the same thing but they are not installed by default. Again setting up the URPMI sources and performing an "urpmi wizards" will provide the missing modules.

You can also utilize Samba's own built in SWAT web interface, Webmin, or at worst directly edit the /etc/samba/smb.conf file to reflect what you need.

I prefer the latter as it gives me better control...

If you run Samba as a server, it can behave as a DOMAIN CONTROLLER for a Microsoft Winblows DOMAIN, which is very different than internet domains.

Now if when you speak of domains, you are referring to internet domains, this too is related to the eth0 device. Not only is the machine name defined around the first ethernet interface, but also usually is the default internet domain membership....

Remember though that with a machine directly connected to the internet, you really cannot just make this stuff up, as neither can you do this with IP's.

thanks

i have smba setp already and i do want to set up a domain(i have a registerd .com) but i will start a new thread if necessary for that. i think i have a bit of reading to do before i go there.

thanks again.