[ILUG] PC's Name.

[Alan Sobey]

> I have a Linux box on a NT network, the default name of the Linux
> machine is apc088, how can I change this to follow the nameing
> convention used by my network ??

The hostname of the linux box and the name with which it appears on a
windows network (the netbios name) don't necessarily have to be the
same.

To set the netbios name edit /etc/smb.conf so that you have a
line reading:

netbios name = whatever

To change the linux box's name you could use "hostname -s whatever".
But I don't think it's too reliable.  You could try

rgrep -H currentname /etc/* 2>/dev/null | cut -d: -f1 | sort | uniq

or 

grep -Hr currentname /etc/* 2>/dev/null | cut -d: -f1 | sort | uniq

to show you which scripts reference your current hostname.  If you
change your current name in these scripts and reboot, you should have
a new hostname.

Btw, for your distro there may be a simpler way to change the hostname
but the above should work for all(most?).  In general though, it's
probably best not to rename an existing machine unless necessary.

hth,
Alan.