what is <MyHostname>

[Mike Lampard]

On Wednesday 26 December 2007 13:54:16 Garry Trethewey wrote:
> oops= except it didn't work. good with internet, slow without.
>
> In gutsy I did system, admin, network, hosts, added
> "bert-gutsy"
> to
> 127.0.0.1    localhost
>
> next time I look,
> 127.0.0.1    localhost bert-gutsy
> has been auto-edited to
> 127.0.0.1    localhost bert-gutsy.mshome
>
> garry at bert-gutsy:~$ is my prompt, so bert-gutsy is my computer's name,
> isn't it?   Not just bert, because I've had bert-dapper, bert-feisty,
> bert-gutsy, all on different partitions but simultaneously.
>
> or could  <MyHostname> be meaningfully different from <Hostname>
>
> Garry
>
> Garry Trethewey wrote:
> > Dale
> > thanks, too easy.
> > Garry
> >
> > Dale wrote:
> >> your hostname for the computer is what ever you gave it on your first
> >> install, unless you have change it since to something else then it'll
> >> be that.
> >>
> >> On Dec 26, 2007 1:18 PM, Garry Trethewey <garrytreth at bigpond.com> wrote:
> >>> the short version of this question is
> >>> what is <MyHostname>
> >>> as in
> >>> /etc/hosts
> >>> 127.0.0.1 localhost <MyHostname>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> The longer version of my question is
> >>> since telstra killed all the phones in the area, I have no internet
> >>> connection. I also have incredibly slow program starts. Booting - 15
> >>> seconds at "starting log file"  line and 20 secs at the "starting cups"
> >>> line, and loading of all programs in both fiesty and grumpy taking 30
> >>> secs, but running at normal speed when loaded. I'd originally thought
> >>> I'd got a buggy update for both, which would be fixed in a week, but
> >>> no-one else seemed to have the same prob, until I found a forum
> >>> describing my problem - slow loading of all programs, normal speed once
> >>> loaded, no internet.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> a forum responder said
> >>> .....If it depends on an internet connection, it sounds scary. Are you
> >>> sure your loopback connections are fine?
> >>>
> >>> for me,
> >>> garry at bert-gutsy:~$ ifconfig lo
> >>> lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
> >>>            inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
> >>>            inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
> >>>            UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
> >>>            RX packets:71 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
> >>>            TX packets:71 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
> >>>            collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
> >>>            RX bytes:6738 (6.5 KB)  TX bytes:6738 (6.5 KB)
> >>> looks like a prob to me, even if I don't know what it means.
> >>>
> >>> someone else said
> >>> I solved my problem  by adding my hostname to /etc/hosts like so
> >>> /etc/hosts
> >>> 127.0.0.1 localhost <MyHostname>
> >>>
> >>> so, what's <MyHostname>      garry, bert-gutsy, bert-gutsy.mshome or
> >>> something else
> >>>
> >>> If I do that, will I be making a timebomb that will give me problems
> >>> later, or is it a good thing to do?
> >>> ps, phone's back now, but I'll need this next time it rains.
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> > Garry Trethewey
> > I heard it's hard to transmit a virus in semaphore,
> > but moving there didn't help.
> > ------------------------------------
>

Check /etc/host.conf and make sure that the 'order' line is similar to:
order hosts,bind
which will force looking in the hosts file before trying external DNS.

Another possible option is to temporarily disable/modify your ethernet (eth0) 
configuration, so no attempt at DHCP and DNS resolution is made..

Mike