On Wed, 2006-08-09 at 15:18 -0400, Jack Gates wrote: > This is from my /etc/hosts file > > # Do not remove the following line, or various programs > # that require network functionality will fail. > 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain As others have said, don't mess with that line. But it shouldn't be as you've shown, it should be: 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost That's a IP address, followed by the associated fully-qualified domain name (FQDN), and an alias (nickname). NB: There can be more than one alias. On a non-networked machine you may add other aliases to that line to refer to the machine, if you really want to name it something other than localhost, but it's best not to. On networked PCs, you can add other machine details on following lines. But DNS is a better way to go, once you go past about three boxes. > What is the proper way to change this file so that: > localhost.localdomain is replaced with something more useful for > identification of my FC5 box on my network? While that's not what it's for, I'll cover what I haven't seen mentioned by others. You need to give each machine a unique name, and this name applies to the interface, not the PC. For instance, you could have a box with three network cards. Each card would have its own IP address and hostname. If you're using hosts files, you need to used fixed addresses on your network. It has no way to automatically change to suit changes on your network. > Can I just edit this file or is there another location to do this and > are there any other files that need to change? If you're setting machine names, playing with the "neat" or "neat-gui" tools is a simple way to do everything at once. But machine hostnames are *set* elsewhere. man hostname > What other information can go in the /etc/hosts file? man hosts > I have tried changing this before but the OS complains when I boot. > It says something like unknown host name or can't determine the host > name. so I have left this alone. Linux has quite a few servers that work on the box, X (the display) being one of them. It'll try to connect to what it believes is the machine's hostname. That means something has to tell the PC what the IP address is for the hostname. The hosts file is one way of doing it. If you're not using localhost, but a unique machine name, then you'll need its IP and hostname in your own hosts file. Or a DNS server providing the same details. e.g. 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost 192.168.0.10 mybox.example.com mybox printserver webserver (Shows using multiple aliases on the second entry.) > It looks like I will need to change it so I can hopefully get my > printer set up for my wife's Win XP box to use. Nope, the changes need to be done on the box trying to connect to it. It's the one that needs to find it. -- (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.
