[GLLUG] hostname difficulties

[Matt Shirilla]

I am new Linux user.  I am using Mandrake 9.1.  I changed the hostname by
editing /etc/sysconfig/network.  The next time I booted my computer I
noticed a long delay after opening an application.  My first guess was that
there is some service that runs on my Mandrake installation that is trying
to connect to the fictional domain I entered in the hostname.  The nbtstat
command showed an open UDP port 53 on my computer to the DNS server of my
ISP.  I do not recall seeing that in the nbtstat before (The only apps I
used that day were KDE, VNC, Konsole, and the file manager which is called
Conqueror I think.)  I have to admit I do not know what most of the services
shown by a chkconfig --list are for and I am wondering if one of them
getting confused by my new hostname.  I changed the hostname back and shut
off my computer - it was too late for me to turn it back on.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Harrison [mailto:harris41 at msu.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 12:31 AM
> To: Todd Torrey
> Cc: linux-user at egr.msu.edu
> Subject: Re: [GLLUG] hostname difficulties
> 
> 
> RH 4/5/6/7/8 are known to produce messed up
> /etc/hosts files with jumbled lines like:
> 
> 127.0.0.1  localhost.localdomain 192.168.5.4 computer4.scrudrlmcb.net
> 
> Note, I think /etc/sysconfig/network specifies the hostname.
> 
> For myself, with RH, the only time I use a wizard is for
> configuring and managing printers.  Otherwise, I find that I too often
> get burned by wizard interfaces which do magically buggy things.
> (Tip: reverse engineer by scanning /etc everytime you use their wizard
>  to see which files it is altering?)
> 
> On Thu, 2003-09-04 at 00:08, Ben Pfaff wrote:
> > "Todd Torrey" <todd_torrey at hotmail.com> writes:
> > 
> > > I'm running RH9. I've noticed that when I change the 
> hostname using
> > > RH's network configuration wizard sometimes applications 
> will take a
> > > very long time to launch. Changing the hostname back to 
> the default
> > > 'localhost.localdomain' seems to fix the problem. Does 
> anybody know
> > > why this is so?
> > 
> > I don't know what the RH network configuration wizard does,
> > chances are that the applications are trying to resolve the local
> > hostname and failing.  You should add your preferred hostname to
> > /etc/hosts or add them to DNS somehow.
> -- 
> Scott Harrison <harris41 at msu.edu>
> Michigan State University
> 
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