hostname changes

On 2009-01-04 16:50:27 -0500, Kevin McMurtrie <kevinmcm.DeleteThis@sonic.net> said:

> In article <2009010410054716807-alanspitz@NOSPAMgmailcom>,
> Alan Spitz <alan.spitz.DeleteThis@NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have a macBook running 10.5.6.
>>
>> Looking at all messages in Console I see several instaces of, for example:
>> 1/4/09Sunday Jan 4 09:30:26 AM configd[14] setting hostname to
>> "alan-spitzs-macbook.local"
>> 1/4/09Sunday Jan 4 09:30:30 AM configd[14] setting hostname to
>> "new-host.home"
>>
>> In particular, whenever I open the lid to wake my machine from sleep I
>> see that sequence of messages (of course there are other messages too).
>>
>> I want to make a script to run ssh to connect to another host running
>> 10.5.5 but I don't know if the hostname might change on the remote host.
>>
>> I have an idea that this is related to DHCP somehow. I've tried
>> turning DHCP off via System Preferences/Network/Advanced/TCPIP but I
>> cannot connect to the internet when I do so. I've tried both Using
>> DHCP with manual address and Manually and I cannot connect to the
>> internet in either case.
>>
>> Does somebody have an explanation as to why the hostname keeps changing?
>
> Set the computer name in the "Sharing" System Preference. The name you
> set there will work on any computer within your virtual local network.
> It's a special form of domain resolution using local broadcast packets
> rather than a central server.
>
> For example, set it to "alan-spitzs-macbook" and then
> "alan-spitzs-macbook.local" will resolve to it.
>
>
> Getting normal DNS to work is harder. You'll need a business-class
> router (not a Linksys), a private domain name server, or publicly
> registered domain names for public addresses.

I went to System Preferences/Sharing. The hostname is set to
alan-spitzs-mcbook.local. But "uname -n" returns new-host.home.

Console/All shows a message indicating that the hostname was set to
alan-spitzs-macbook.local and then after four seconds there is a
message indicating that the hostname was set to new-host.home.

I cannot set the hostname to new-host.home via System
Preferences/Sharig because it provides the extension ".local".

Using an IP address would accomplish the same thing but with DHCP it
would change it from time to time. And I have been poking around in
/etc et al, thinking I could write a script that gets either the IP
address or the hostname and I haven't found anyplace were either one is
stored.

I would appreciate it if somebody tells me why the hostname change and
where the IP address and hostname are stored.

Thank you.
--
Alan Spitz

In article <2009010508522675249-alanspitz@NOSPAMgmailcom>,
Alan Spitz <alan.spitz DeleteThis @NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:

> Console/All shows a message indicating that the hostname was set to
> alan-spitzs-macbook.local and then after four seconds there is a
> message indicating that the hostname was set to new-host.home.

Have you checked your router's configuration? It may be passing this
hostname back along with the IP address, in which case your Mac is using
the hostname that your local network tells it to use.

> Using an IP address would accomplish the same thing but with DHCP it
> would change it from time to time. And I have been poking around in
> /etc et al, thinking I could write a script that gets either the IP
> address or the hostname and I haven't found anyplace were either one is
> stored.

Normally if you configure the Mac to have a static IP address, you don't
use DHCP, so I'm not sure what the problem is here.

--
Tom "Tom" Harrington
Independent Mac OS X developer since 2002
http://www.atomicbird.com/