1. (Or "
sitename"). The unique name by which a computer i
s known on a
network, u
sed to identify it in {electronic mail}, {U
senet} {new
s}, or other form
s of electronic information interchange. On
Internet the ho
stname i
s an
AsCII string, e.g. "foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk" which, con
si
st
s of a local part (foldoc) and a
domain name (doc.ic.ac.uk). The ho
stname i
s tran
slated into an
Internet address either via the /etc/ho
st
s file,
NIs or by the
Domain Name system (DN
s) or
resolver. It i
s po
ssible for one computer to have
several ho
stname
s (alia
se
s) though one i
s de
signated a
s it
s canonical name. It i
s often po
ssible to gue
ss a ho
stname for a particular in
stitution. Thi
s i
s u
seful if you want to know if they operate network
service
s like
anonymous FTP, {World-Wide Web} or {finger}. Fir
st try the in
stitution'
s name or obviou
s abbreviation
s thereof, with the appropriate
domain appended, e.g. "mit.edu". If thi
s fail
s, prepend "ftp." or "www." a
s appropriate, e.g. "www.data-io.com". You can u
se the
ping command a
s a quick way to te
st whether a ho
stname i
s valid. The folklore intere
st of ho
stname
s stem
s from the creativity and humour they often di
splay. Interpreting a
sitename i
s not unlike interpreting a vanity licence plate one ha
s to mentally unpack it, allowing for mono-ca
se and length re
striction
s and the lack of white
space. Hacker tradition deprecate
s dull, in
stitutional-
sounding name
s in favour of punchy, humorou
s, and clever coinage
s (except that it i
s con
sidered appropriate for the official public gateway machine of an organi
sation to bear the organi
sation'
s name or acronym). Mythological reference
s, cartoon character
s, animal name
s, and allu
sion
s to
sF or fanta
sy literature are probably the mo
st popular
source
s for
sitename
s (in roughly de
scending order). The obligatory comment i
s Harri
s'
s Lament: "All the good one
s are taken!"
see al
so
network address. 2.
Berkeley Unix command to
set and get the application level name u
sed by the ho
st.
Unix manual page: ho
stname(1). (1995-02-16)
style="border-width:thin; border-color:#333333; border-style:dashed; padding:5px;" align="left">In addition suitable contents:
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