On Sat, 2006-04-08 at 20:53 -0400, B Wooster wrote:
> Having run Linux for years now, with multiple machines behind a
> broadband router, I still am totally unclear on the concept of what to
> pick for "localhost" and "localdomain" when installing a new box.
"localhost" needs to remain associated with "127.0.0.1". The additional
"localhost.localdomain" seems to be peculiar to some Linuxes, and I'd
still keep it as-is, for the sake of consistency.
The first *real* line in your hosts file should remain unadulterated as:
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
Add other hostnames separately. Whether that be to an interface, or a
variation on the 127.0.0.x network. As you'll have read, don't just
invent names willy-nilly. Initially I just expanded on the localdomain
idea, as it seems highly unlikely to get used as a real
top-level-domain.
e.g. 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.0.1 one.localdomain one
192.168.0.2 two.localdomain two
192.168.0.3 three.localdomain three
Later, when I got my own domain, I just picked on it for my LAN, as well.
There are some reserved names set aside not to be allowed to be
registered for real internet domains: localhost, test, example.com, and
invalid, with one exception (example.com does exist, but your own use of
it shouldn't going to cause problems for other people). There's an RFC
about this.
Though I do wish they'd set aside something short for LANs, like "lan".
It'd save a lot of people headaches over this sort of thing. Someone
could even register a domain for public use with 200 odd prepared
sub-domains, using people's names all associated with differnet
192.168.0.x addresses, so you could just suck it in and re-use it.
NB: All of this applies whether you mess with the hosts file or a local
DNS server.
--
(Currently running FC4, occasionally trying FC5.)
Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored.
I read messages from the public lists.
