Hi, everyone. Just want to check with u professional Linux guys about the computer name. Initially, when Linux redhat 9 is setup. The default computer name is LOCALHOST. Let say, if I want to change to LINUXTEST. What should I do? From the DNS of networking section, I did change the localhost.localdomain -> Linuxtest.localdomain. Then I log in to the computer again, it warns "Cannot detect localhost"... Is there anyway I can troubleshoot this problem....besides, is there any effective way i can do with it... Cheers~~~

You really need to have localhost as some programs require it in order to work. You can change your computer name by using the hostname command or by editing /etc/ HOSTNAME. You can also edit /etc/hosts and add as many aliases as you like, eg: 127.0.0.1 localhost 192.168.0.1 linuxtest.localdomain linuxtest foobar You can now refer to your machine as either linuxtest.localdomain, linuxtest or foobar

Ic, so that is the way.. But when I use "vi /etc/hosts"... i couldn't add anything inside ... I can add then i type ":wq!"...it seem dun works ...ioi is there anyway i can edit it as mentioned as previous reply... Many thanks!

vi has insert mode & command mode. Press 'i' to enter insert mode & start editing, press <Esc> to enter command mode & enter commands like 'q'.

If you are just starting out, try something like mcedit if you have it installed, it's a little like DOS edit and easy to use. As 99% of linux configuration is done with text files, I would strongly recommend getting used to vi or my preference emacs. You will also have to be root in order to edit those files.

Alright...ic, let say my IP address on the network is 192.168.10.82... After open /etc/hosts it shows 127.0.0.1 localhost Then, i add 192.168.10.82 linuxtest and did wat i need to do which is successful(in editing) is this mean the computer name of the computer i'm using is changed to LINUXTEST? However, I can't see my computer name in the workgroup i set from the smb:///. From the Win user, I also can't see anything appear in the same workgroup... ioi If I hav other computer's IP with Linux set is 192.168.10.108... I add 192.108.10.108 LINUXTEST2 in the /etc/hosts Is it useful in viewing the shared file, however, nothing appear too ioi Any suggestions by professional Linux ppl ^0^? Cheers~~~

The hosts file is referred to when trying to resolve names. If it finds one it should then translate it to the IP....so pinging linuxtest should work. You would probably want to add "192.168.10.108 linuxtest2" to the file as well...in fact add all your computers to it (including the windoze one) and make sure that the file is the same on each PC. The samba name (ie for smb://linuxtest to work) needs to be set in the samba config file (/etc/samba/smb.conf) as well as the workgroup name, share names etc. You also have to make sure that the samba service is running and you will have to restart it to make the changes work. Either "service smb restart" or "/etc/init.d/smbd restart" should work. In order for users to be able to view files via samba, they have to be added to the samba users database with "smbpasswd -a username"