Recipe 20.11. Configuring a Fully Qualified Domain Name
20.11.1 Problem
You're not sure how to
configure a fully qualified domain name on your system. You know
there are several files to edit, but you aren't
quite sure what they are or what to put in them.
20.11.2 Solution
On most Linux systems, you must edit
/etc/hostname and
/etc/hosts. /etc/hostname
sets only the system's hostname:
windbag
/etc/hosts sets the domain name:
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.1.5 windbag.test.net windbag
On Red Hat and Fedora, you must edit
/etc/sysconfig/network instead of
/etc/hostname:
HOSTNAME=windbag
Check your configurations as follows:
$ hostname
windbag
$ hostname —fqdn
windbag.test.net
$ dnsdomainname
test.net
You must reboot for hostname changes to take effect.
20.11.3 Discussion
/etc/sysconfig/network and
/etc/hostname are read at boottime to set the
hostname.
You can change the domain name anytime and have it take effect by
restarting networking. On Debian, use:
# /etc/init.d/networking restart
On Red Hat and Fedora, use:
# /etc/init.d/network restart
However, this is not foolproof, because some applications will not be
updated with a networking restart. A reboot is usually best.
20.11.4 See Also
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