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Special Forums IP Networking Can I change my hostname without messing things up? Post 302958227 by Ultrix on Tuesday 20th of October 2015 10:28:49 AM
Old 10-20-2015
Can I change my hostname without messing things up?

I noticed my hostname is <my-full-name>s-macbook.local. I'm not sure exactly what information leaves the local network, and whether the hostname is included, but if it is, this would mean people on the Internet can look at my hostname and see who I am. Before anyone says that's not possible, there was a time when someone addressed me by my full name on YouTube, and that was when I was on an account that I had created through a GMail account that didn't have my real name on it, so they must have gotten my real name by looking at my hostname, or at least something similar to that.

So I would like to change my hostname, but I'm not sure if I can do this without messing things up on my local host. I'm afraid if I change things like my IP address or my hostname, I won't be able to use the Internet anymore. Can anyone explain to me how this works? I guess I basically have three questions: 1) Will changing my hostname affect my ability to log onto a network. 2) If so, why? 3) If so, what other information do I need to reconfigure so I can log onto a network again?

Additional information that may be relevant: I have no home network. I always use public WiFi networks.
 

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hostname(1)						      General Commands Manual						       hostname(1)

NAME
hostname - set or display name of current host system SYNOPSIS
[name_of_host] DESCRIPTION
The command displays the name of the current host, as given in the system call (see gethostname(2)). Users who have appropriate privileges can set the hostname by giving the argument name_of_host; this is usually done in the startup script The name_of_host argument is restricted to characters as defined in The system might be known by other names if networking products are supported. See the node manager documentation supplied with your sys- tem. WARNINGS
If the name_of_host argument is specified, the resulting host name change lasts only until the system is rebooted. To change the host name permanently, run the special initialization script (see Many types of networking services are supported on HP-UX, each of which uses a separately assigned system name and naming convention. To ensure predictable system behavior, it is essential that system names (also called host names or node names) be assigned in such a manner that they do not create conflicts when the various networking facilities interact with each other. The system does not rely on a single system name in a specific location, partly because different services use dissimilar name formats as explained below. The and commands assign system names as follows: +--------------+---------------+----------------+---------------------------+ |Node Name | Command | name Format | Used By | +--------------+---------------+----------------+---------------------------+ |Internet name | hostname name | sys[.x.y.z...] | ARPA and NFS Services | |UUCP name | uname -S name | sys | uucp and related programs | +--------------+--------------+---------------+-----------------------+--|Node-+-Name-------|Command-------+ |name Format |Used By | +--------------+--------------+---------------+-----------------------+ |Internet name |hostname name |sys[.x.y.z...] |ARPA and NFS Ser- vices | |UUCP name |uname -S name |sys |uucp, related programs | +--------------+--------------+---------------+-------- --------------+ where sys represents the assigned system name. It is recommended that sys be identical for all commands and locations and that the optional follow the specified notation for the particular ARPA/NFS environment. Internet names are also frequently called host names or domain names (which are different from NFS domain names). Refer to hostname(5) for more information about Internet naming conventions. Whenever the system name is changed in any file or by the use of any of the above commands, it should also be changed in all other loca- tions as well. Other files or commands in addition to those above (such as if used to circumvent for example) may contain or alter system names. To ensure correct operation, they should also use the same system name. System names are normally assigned by the script at start-up, and should not be altered elsewhere. Setting a hostname of more than 64 bytes is possible only with the appropriate configuration options enabled. It is strongly recommended that all related documentation be completely understood before setting a larger hostname. A hostname larger than 64 bytes can cause anoma- lous or incorrect behavior in applications which use the command or the system function to access the name. AUTHOR
was developed by the University of California, Berkeley. SEE ALSO
uname(1), gethostname(2), sethostname(2), uname(2), hostname(5), nodehostnamesize(5). hostname(1)
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