Terminal host name

Well - the host name comes from several places.

If you have no network connection, it will be whatever was entered into the System Preferences - Sharing - computer name field.

If you have a network and use DNS/DHCP - often the compter will be assigned a name along with an IP address - so your network could have assigned that name.

In my case - here are the values which I have set manually as well as on my DHCP server:

mac:~ me$ echo $PS1
\h:\w \u\$
mac:~ me$ hostname
mac.ourdomain.com
mac:~ me$ hostname -s
mac

Who set up your computer? By default - if there is no user (which is the case after a fresh install from DVD or presumably from the imaging process at apple's factories) - it runs the setup assistant and asks you your name and names the computer "First Lastname's Computer" or something. Did you enter the accounts or did someone else set that up for you?

glad I could help 🙂

Now I'm at home I see that my
hostname has changed back to the computer name set in
sharing.

If you don't want it to ever change, then you can always set your preferred hostname in /etc/hostconfig.

Personally, I happen to think it should change as assigned by the DHCP server, but that's just me.

I had the same thing happening to me.

In my opinion the problem is that (in this incident at least) my Mac got the name of another computer previously connected to the network: briansdell.

Doesn't make much sense as my name is Asger and I have a Mac 🙂

I don't know if dns was served by router or Windows server 2003.

I've been struggling with a similar issue. In my case I'm running a private home network using 90.0.0.x subnet served by a SonicWall device connected to SBC's DSL network. My iMac and my MacBook Pro are both showing hostnames of the form

amontpellier-257-1-113-17.w90-0.abo.wanadoo.fr

when I launch a bash shell via Terminal. I got off track because I had been in Montpellier recently and probably used the Wanadoo network. However, I think the problem is related to DNS.

The DNS servers configured in my SonicWall router are:

68.94.156.1
68.94.157.1

which are sbcglobal.net servers:

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;1.156.94.68.in-addr.arpa. IN PTR

;; ANSWER SECTION:
1.156.94.68.in-addr.arpa. 3600 IN PTR dnsr1.sbcglobal.net.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
1.156.94.68.in-addr.arpa. 3600 IN NS localhost.

If I lookup 90.0.0.17, it resolved to the wanadoo address:

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;17.0.0.90.in-addr.arpa. IN PTR

;; ANSWER SECTION:
17.0.0.90.in-addr.arpa. 162704 IN PTR AMontpellier-257-1-113-17.w90-0.abo.wanadoo.fr.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
0.0.90.in-addr.arpa. 162704 IN NS ns.wanadoo.fr.
0.0.90.in-addr.arpa. 162704 IN NS ns2.wanadoo.fr.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns.wanadoo.fr. 762 IN A 80.12.255.24
ns2.wanadoo.fr. 762 IN A 80.12.255.159

In my case, I think two things are wrong. First, my SonicWall is not resolving the 90.0.0.x network locally so it is asking sbcglobal's DNS servers. Second, I'm pretty sure the 90.0.0.x network is a private network, so I don't think wanadoo.fr should be resovling the address in the DNS network.

So, like many other folks, I'm trying to figure out how to fix this. If anyone has any good suggestions, I'm listening.

Thanks,
Chip


iMac G5 and MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8) .Mac, Plaxo and PocketMac (for BlackBerry)

I've been struggling with a similar issue. In my
case I'm running a private home network using
90.0.0.x subnet served by a SonicWall device
connected to SBC's DSL network.

90.0.0.0 is NOT a PRIVATE subnet. Those are public IP addresses belonging to a real network on the outside internet. You should be using one of the folowing subnets for private intranets:

192.168.0.0/16
172.16.0.0/12
10.0.0.0/8

for reference......

$ whois 90.0.0.0

OrgName: RIPE Network Coordination Centre
OrgID: RIPE
Address: P.O. Box 10096
City: Amsterdam
StateProv:
PostalCode: 1001EB
Country: NL

ReferralServer: whois://whois.ripe.net:43

NetRange: 90.0.0.0 - 90.255.255.255
CIDR: 90.0.0.0/8
NetName: 90-RIPE
NetHandle: NET-90-0-0-0-1
Parent:
NetType: Allocated to RIPE NCC
NameServer: NS-PRI.RIPE.NET
NameServer: SEC1.APNIC.NET
NameServer: SEC3.APNIC.NET
NameServer: SUNIC.SUNET.SE
NameServer: TINNIE.ARIN.NET
NameServer: NS.LACNIC.NET
Comment: These addresses have been further assigned to users in
Comment: the RIPE NCC region. Contact information can be found in
Comment: the RIPE database at http://www.ripe.net/whois
RegDate: 2005-06-30
Updated: 2005-07-22

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2006-10-19 19:10
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN's WHOIS database.
% This is the RIPE Whois query server #2.
% The objects are in RPSL format.
%
% Note: the default output of the RIPE Whois server
% is changed. Your tools may need to be adjusted. See
% http://www.ripe.net/db/news/abuse-proposal-20050331.html
% for more details.
%
% Rights restricted by copyright.
% See http://www.ripe.net/db/copyright.html

% Note: This output has been filtered.
% To receive output for a database update, use the "-B" flag

% Information related to '90.0.0.0 - 90.0.0.255'

inetnum: 90.0.0.0 - 90.0.0.255
netname: IP2000-ADSL-BAS
descr: BSMON257 Montpellier Bloc1
country: FR
admin-c: WITR1-RIPE
tech-c: WITR1-RIPE
status: ASSIGNED PA
remarks: for hacking, spamming or security problems send mail to
remarks: postmaster@wanadoo.fr AND abuse@wanadoo.fr
mnt-by: FT-BRX
source: RIPE # Filtered

role: Wanadoo France Technical Role
address: FRANCE TELECOM/SCR
address: 48 rue Camille Desmoulins
address: 92791 ISSY LES MOULINEAUX CEDEX 9
address: FR
phone: +33 1 58 88 50 00
e-mail: abuse@wanadoo.fr
admin-c: WITR1-RIPE
tech-c: WITR1-RIPE
nic-hdl: WITR1-RIPE
mnt-by: FT-BRX
source: RIPE # Filtered

% Information related to '90.0.0.0/11AS3215'

route: 90.0.0.0/11
descr: France Telecom
origin: AS3215
mnt-by: RAIN-TRANSPAC
source: RIPE # Filtered


skerns-mbp:~ skerns$ nslookup amontpellier-257-1-113-17.w90-0.abo.wanadoo.fr
Server: 10.0.0.25
Address: 10.0.0.25#53

Name: amontpellier-257-1-113-17.w90-0.abo.wanadoo.fr
Address: 90.0.0.17

My iMac and my
MacBook Pro are both showing hostnames of the form

amontpellier-257-1-113-17.w90-0.abo.wanadoo.fr

when I launch a bash shell via Terminal. I got off
track because I had been in Montpellier recently and
probably used the Wanadoo network. However, I think
the problem is related to DNS.

The DNS servers configured in my SonicWall router
are:

68.94.156.1
68.94.157.1

which are sbcglobal.net servers:

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;1.156.94.68.in-addr.arpa. IN PTR

;; ANSWER SECTION:
1.156.94.68.in-addr.arpa.
3600 IN PTR dnsr1.sbcglobal.net.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
1.156.94.68.in-addr.arpa. 3600 IN NS localhost.

If I lookup 90.0.0.17, it resolved to the wanadoo
address:

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;17.0.0.90.in-addr.arpa. IN PTR

;; ANSWER SECTION:
17.0.0.90.in-addr.arpa. 162704 IN PTR AMontpellier-257
-1-113-17.w90-0.abo.wanadoo.fr.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
0.0.90.in-addr.arpa. 162704 IN NS ns.wanadoo.fr.
0.0.90.in-addr.arpa. 162704 IN NS ns2.wanadoo.fr.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns.wanadoo.fr. 762 IN A 80.12.255.24
ns2.wanadoo.fr. 762 IN A 80.12.255.159

In my case, I think two things are wrong. First, my
SonicWall is not resolving the 90.0.0.x network
locally so it is asking sbcglobal's DNS servers.
Second, I'm pretty sure the 90.0.0.x network is a
private network, so I don't think wanadoo.fr should
be resovling the address in the DNS network.

So, like many other folks, I'm trying to figure out
how to fix this. If anyone has any good suggestions,
I'm listening.

Thanks,
Chip
br>
iMac G5 and MacBook Pro
Mac OS X (10.4.8) .Mac, Plaxo and
PocketMac (for BlackBerry)

See also: RFC 1918

http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1918.html

Wonderful! That's a holdover from when I was using WinProxy as their documentation recommended that I use 90.0.0.x:

http://www.internetaccessmonitor.com/eng/support/docs/winproxy/user-manual/Addin g-TCPIP-to-your-network.php

Geez! Well, that's something I can fix easy enough.

Chip