Re: [fetchmail-users] Local FQDN

[Rob F. <rf...@fu...>]

Dave Coventry wrote:
> Rob MacGregor wrote:
> > Change the system's hostname, ie so that "hostname" provides
> > "myhostname.mydomain.de" rather than just "myhostname".
>
> I have never really understood how this works. Surely "mydomain.de"
> would have to be registered first?

Not if you pick one that can't be registered, e.g. mydomain.local.

> If I arbitrarily select a domain for my internal network, say
> "baynet.com", and there exists a registered URL on the web of the same
> name, isn't there scope for confusion?

Yes.  Don't do that.  Pick a name that *can't* match one of the 
(relatively) few top-level domains (.org, .com, .net, .info, .museum, and 
some others, plus the country codes like .de and .us).

Or even better, register your own domain and make a local subdomain under 
that.  :-)

> In fact, I have a machine on my network just called "Janus" and if I
> put that into my browser I frequently get
> "https://ww3.janus.com/Janus/Retail/HomePage".

Yeah, browsers expect at least a fully-qualified domain name (e.g. 
janus.com), and if you just type a bare machine name the browser will 
start guessing top-level domains (.com, .org., .net).  If you want your 
local machine you need to make that unambiguous by setting up a local 
domain (and probably local DNS) and using that.

-- 
==============================|   "A microscope locked in on one point
 Rob Funk <rf...@fu...> |Never sees what kind of room that it's in"
 http://www.funknet.net/rfunk |    -- Chris Mars, "Stuck in Rewind"