How to reach a computer by hostname on a LAN?

[Rick Stevens]

Christopher J. Bottaro wrote:
> Kam Leo wrote:
> 
>>>>On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 01:10:53 -0600, Christopher J. Bottaro
>>>>
>>>>>Thanks for the great reply.  I have a couple of problems though...
>>>>>
>>>>>It seems my router does what I want (I think).  It it setup as a DHCP
>>>>>server.  I have 3 computers:
>>>>>semaphore (linux)
>>>>>mutex (winxp)
>>>>>mobile (linux, wireless)
>>>>>When I go to "connected devices" in my router setup, I see 3 entries:
>>>>>--- 192.168.1.100
>>>>>SEMAPHORE 192.168.1.101
>>>>>--- 192.168.1.102
>>>>>Problem number 1:  Why isn't mutex and mobile giving their hostnames
>>>>>to the router?
>>>>>Problem number 2:  "ping semaphore" from mutex (the winxp machine)
>>>>>works,
>>>>>but "ping semaphore" from mobile gives me "unknown host".  What is up
>>>>>with
>>>>>that?  Why can the win32 machine resolve semaphore properly and the
>>>>>linux machine doesn't?
>>>>>
>>>>>Its a Netgear WGR614v5 router, btw.
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks for the help, I can't wait to get this problem licked...I've
>>>>>been wanting to solve it for a long time.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Verify following are in /etc/sysconfig/network in each of your linux
>>>>boxes:
>>>>
>>>># /etc/sysconfig/network
>>>>NETWORKING=yes
>>>>HOSTNAME=hostname_of_your_system
>>>>
>>>
>>>I forgot to mention that you should also verify in /etc/hosts that you
>>>have the hostname as an alias for address 127.0.0.1 .
>>>
>>
>>It's getting really late and I'm not thinking as clearly as I should.
>>Need to get to bed.
>>
>>You also need to check /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0.
>>Change eth0 to eth1 or whatever your network connection to dhcp is.
>>
>>#/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
>>DEVICE=eth0
>>BOOTPROTO=dhcp
>>ONBOOT=yes
>>TYPE=Ethernet
>>DHCP_HOSTNAME=hostname_of_your_system
>>
>>DHCP_HOSTNAME should be there.  If not add it.  This should do the trick.
>>
>>I believe that DHCP_NAME is set up by kudzu when you do your install
>>of Fedora; however, the setup is easy to miss.
>>
>>
>>>>Get your router to refresh its status and see if the names appear.
>>>>
>>>>-- Kam Leo
>>
> 
> [root at mobile ~]# cat /etc/sysconfig/network
> NETWORKING=yes
> HOSTNAME=mobile
> 
> [root at mobile ~]# cat /etc/hosts
> # Do not remove the following line, or various programs
> # that require network functionality will fail.
> 127.0.0.1       mobile  localhost.localdomain   localhost
> 
> [root at mobile ~]# cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlcjb
> # Please read /usr/share/doc/initscripts-*/sysconfig.txt
> # for the documentation of these parameters.
> IPV6INIT=no
> ONBOOT=no
> USERCTL=yes
> PEERDNS=yes
> GATEWAY=
> TYPE=Wireless
> DEVICE=eth1
> HWADDR=
> BOOTPROTO=dhcp
> NETMASK=
> DHCP_HOSTNAME=mobile
> IPADDR=
> DOMAIN=
> ESSID=CJB
> CHANNEL=1
> MODE=Managed
> RATE=Auto
> 
> I even reserved an local IP address for it in my router setup, *giving* it
> the device name as "mobile".  Still, when I ifup that device, it's name
> comes up blank in my router's "connected devices" tab (it *is* there, it
> just doesn't have a name associated with it).
> 
> Any ideas on my second problem?  My other machine's name, semaphore, does
> show up in my router's "connected devices" tab.  I can "ping semaphore"
> from my windows box, but from my other linux box:
> [root at mobile ~]# ping semaphore
> ping: unknown host semaphore
> 
> Thanks again for the help, I really appreciate it.

Try adding "NICKNAME=mobile" to your ifcfg-wlcjb file.  The
"DHCP_HOSTNAME" only affects DHCP, not the wireless stuff.  See the
man page for "iwconfig" for the various options you can set.
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-       "I'd explain it to you, but your brain might explode."       -
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