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Special Forums IP Networking Can I change my hostname without messing things up? Post 302958230 by vincent72 on Tuesday 20th of October 2015 10:53:32 AM
Old 10-20-2015
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultrix
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.
It won't affect your being able to connect to the internet. It'll just change the name of your machine.

You may want to read this (old) article : Changing your Mac’s Computer Name | OSXDaily or Set the HostName, Computer Name, and Bonjour Name Separately in OS X | OSXDaily

Last edited by vincent72; 10-20-2015 at 12:18 PM..
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hostid(1)						      General Commands Manual							 hostid(1)

NAME
hostid - Sets or displays the identifier of the local host SYNOPSIS
/usr/sbin/hostid [hostname | hexadecimal_number | internet_address] DESCRIPTION
The hostid command displays the 32-bit identifier of the host as a hexadecimal number in host standard byte order. The identifier must be unique across all hosts and is commonly set to the Internet address of the specified host. The superuser can set the host ID by specifying a hostname, internet_address, or hexadecimal_number argument. The identifier is stored in network standard byte order. EXAMPLES
To display the identifier of the local host, enter: $ hostid 0xc009c803 The hostid command displays the identifier of the host as a hexadecimal number in host standard byte order. To set the identifier of the local host to the local Internet address, enter: $ hostid 555.5.55.555 The hostid command converts the Internet address to its hexadecimal equivalent, and then sets the local host to this address. Note that the sample Internet address in this example, 555.5.55.555, is not a valid Internet address and would cause hostid to return an error. SEE ALSO
Commands: hostname(1) Functions: gethostid(2), sethostid(2) hostid(1)
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