can ping pcname?

jorasmi · 12-08-2005, 09:20 PM

hi guys! in windows command prompt I can do "ping otherpc", but why cant i do that in linux? it's very convinient to just remember the name of the pc on the network rather that their IP.

tuxdev · 12-08-2005, 09:42 PM

just setup your dns mappings in /etc/hosts

MS3FGX · 12-08-2005, 09:44 PM

You need to have some form of name resolution system in place to do that, at least dynamically. You can manually specify hostnames in your /etc/hosts file, and ping them that way.

Windows has it's own system of name resolution it can use between Windows systems when there is no DNS available. Linux does not have such an ability built in, though it is possible with a Samba plugin to resolve names via WINs on a Linux machine.

slazer · 12-09-2005, 01:08 AM

edit /etc/hosts

for example:

<IP_address> <canonical_hostname> <alias>

127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.1.12 pc1.myhome.net pc1

for more info.. man hosts

jorasmi · 12-09-2005, 04:50 AM

I don't think this will work for me. I'm on a network where all pcs are configured to use a dhcp server.

I have samba running fine, I can browse all shared files on the network. Is there any other program that I need to install?