Change my Host Name in Solais 10

Question

Please, when I run smc(Solaris Management Console) I can see in System Information, that my Host Name is unknown. How can I change that?

Answer 1

It's strange that you don't have etc/nodename, it must be in etc/. May be you'll try to create it? Besides, I think this article can help you:
Setting Up a Solaris DHCP Client
One of the problems that can arise when trying to use a Solaris box as a DHCP
client is that by default, the server is expected to supply a hostname, in
addition to all the other stuff (like IP address, DNS servers, etc.). Most cable
modems and home routers don't supply a (usable) hostname, so it gets set to "unknown".
This page describes how to get around that. (Where this page says "cable modem",
"DSL modem" can be substituted.)
This page assumes that le0 is the interface you using for your DHCP connection.
Substitute hme0 or whatever interface you're actually using in the examples
below.
Setting up DHCP
There are two ways of using DHCP:
DHCP has limited control
DHCP has full control
The first case may be where you want to use your own /etc/resolv.conf and so on,
with a minimum of hassle.
The second case would be the normal situation, especially if your cable modem
provider has a habit of changing DNS name server IP addresses on you (like mine
does!), so I'll concentrate on that here. I have a script to automate the first
method, should you want to use it. You'll need to change the DEFAULT_ADDR and
INTERFACE variables as required.
The first thing to do is to create an empty /etc/hostname.le0, like this:
/etc/hostname.le0Creating this file ensures that the interface gets plumbed, ready for the DHCP
software to do its stuff.
Next, you create /etc/dhcp.le0. This file can be empty if you want to accept the
defaults, but may also contain one or both of these directives:
wait time, and
primary
By default, ifconfig will wait 30 seconds for the DHCP server to respond (after
which time, the boot will continue, while the interface gets configured in the
background). Specifying the wait directive tells ifconfig not to return until
the DHCP has responded. time can be set to the special value of forever, with
obvious meaning. I use a time value of 300, which seems to be long enough for my
cable provider.
The primary directive indicates to ifconfig that the current interface is the
primary one, if you have more than one interface under DHCP control. If you only
have one interface under DHCP control, then it is automatically the primary one,
so primary is redundant (although it's permissible).
With these files in place, subsequent reboots will place le0 under DHCP control:
you're ready to go!
Unknown hostname
Actually, there's one snag: most (if not all) cable modem DHCP servers don't
provide you with a hostname (even if they did, odds are it won't be one you want
anyway!). This wouldn't be a problem, except that the boot scripts (/etc/init.d/rootusr
in particular) try to be clever, and set your hostname to "unknown" in this case,
which is not at all useful!
The trick is to change your hostname back to the right one, preferably without
changing any of the supplied start-up scripts, which are liable to be being
stomped on when you upgrade or install a patch. You've also got to do it early
enough in the boot process, so that rpcbind, sendmail and friends don't get
confused by using the wrong hostname. To solve this problem, put this little
script in to /etc/init.d/set_hostname, with a symbolic link to it from /etc/rc2.d/S70set_hostname.
Starting with Solaris 10, the preceding paragraph can be ignored. Instead, just
make sure that the hostname you want to use is in /etc/nodename; the contents of
that file will then be used to set the hostname. (Note that it is essential that
the hostname you put into /etc/nodename is terminated with a carriage return.
Breakage will happen if this is not the case.) Also, from Solaris 8 it is
possible to tell the DHCP software not to request a hostname from the DHCP
server. To do this, remove the token 12 from the PARAM_REQUEST_LIST line in /etc/default/dhcpagent.
(/etc/default/dhcpagent describes what the default tokens are; 12 is the
hostname, 3 is the default router, 6 is the DNS server, and so on.)
With these modifications in place, reboot, and you'll be using your cable modem
in no time!
If you've got more than one machine, and you want to access the Internet from
all of them, you might also find my Solaris NAT page useful.
If this page has been useful to you, please consider buying a copy of my book,
Solaris Systems Programming.
Send any questions or comments to: [email protected]
And this is the script:
#!/sbin/sh
# Name: set_hostname
# SCCS Id: @(#)set_hostname 1.2 07/26/04
# Description: This file is a script for re-setting your hostname to the
# right value if you use DHCP (which has a habit of setting
# your hostname to "unknown" if you use a cable modem).
# Copyright Љ 2000-2004 by Rich Teer. All rights reserved.
HOSTNAME=`cat /etc/nodename`
echo "Setting hostname to $HOSTNAME... \c"
uname -S $HOSTNAME
echo "Done."
It's another variant, more complex:
#!/usr/bin/sh
# set_hostname
# Setting DHCP hostname when not provided from DHCP-server.
# Make sure you have a "clean" copy of /etc/hosts (fx. /etc/hosts.orig)
# As this script will clean up and set the hostname in /etc/hosts.
# The script can be run in hand, or as a startup script in:
# Solaris 8/9: /etc/init.d; /etc/rcX.d
# Programmed by: Yngve Berthelsen
# Date: 20050216
# E-Mail: [email protected]
# Last updated: 20050216
# History:
### Variables used in script
NODENAME="/etc/nodename"
HOSTALIAS=`cat /etc/nodename|nawk ' BEGIN { FS="." }; { print $1 }'`
HOSTFILE="/etc/hosts"
ORGHOST="/etc/hosts.orig"
HOSTNAME=`/usr/bin/hostname`
NIC="hme0" # Change hme0 to the DHCP interface NIC
DHCPNIC="/etc/dhcp.$NIC"
IPADDRESS=`ifconfig $NIC|grep inet|nawk '{ print $2 }'`
### Functions to call
SetHostname()
echo "Setting DHCP Hostname: $NODENAME"
/usr/bin/uname -S $NODENAME
print "$IPADDRESS\t$NODENAME\t$HOSTALIAS" >> $HOSTFILE
/usr/bin/hostname $NODENAME
return
# main
case "$1" in
'start')
if [ -f $DHCPNIC ]
then
if [[ $HOSTNAME == "Unknown" ]]
then
SetHostname
elif [[ $HOSTNAME == "unknown" ]]
then
SetHostname
fi
fi
'stop')
if [ -f $DHCPNIC ]
then
cp -frp $ORGHOST $HOSTFILE
fi
echo "Usage: $0 { start |stop }"
exit 1
esac
exit 0
### This script is submitted to BigAdmin by a user of the BigAdmin community.
### Sun Microsystems, Inc. is not responsible for the
### contents or the code enclosed.
### Copyright 2007 Sun Microsystems, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
### Use of this software is authorized pursuant to the
### terms of the license found at
### http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/common/berkeley_license.html
I use the first, "short" script, it works.