hostname

1. (Or "sitename"). The unique name by which a computer is

known on a network, used to identify it in electronicmail, Usenet news, or other forms of electronic

information interchange.

On Internet the hostname is an ASCII string,

e.g. "foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk" which, consists of a local part

(foldoc) and a domain name (doc.ic.ac.uk). The hostname is

translated into an Internet address either via the

/etc/hosts file, NIS or by the Domain Name System (DNS) or

resolver. It is possible for one computer to have several

hostnames (aliases) though one is designated as its

canonical name.

It is often possible to guess a hostname for a particular

institution. This is useful if you want to know if they

operate network services like anonymous FTP, World-WideWeb or finger. First try the institution's name or obvious

abbreviations thereof, with the appropriate domain appended,

e.g. "mit.edu". If this fails, prepend "ftp." or "www." as

appropriate, e.g. "www.data-io.com". You can use the ping

command as a quick way to test whether a hostname is valid.

The folklore interest of hostnames stems from the creativity

and humour they often display. Interpreting a sitename is not

unlike interpreting a vanity licence plate; one has to

mentally unpack it, allowing for mono-case and length

restrictions and the lack of whitespace. Hacker tradition

deprecates dull, institutional-sounding names in favour of

punchy, humorous, and clever coinages (except that it is

considered appropriate for the official public gateway machine

of an organisation to bear the organisation's name or

acronym). Mythological references, cartoon characters, animal

names, and allusions to SF or fantasy literature are probably

the most popular sources for sitenames (in roughly descending

order). The obligatory comment is Harris's Lament: "All the

good ones are taken!"

See also network address.

2. Berkeley Unix command to set and get the application

level name used by the host.

Unix manual page: hostname(1).

(1995-02-16)