hostname

(1)(Or "sitename"). The unique name by which a computer isknown on a network, used to identify it in electronic mail, Usenet news, or other forms of electronicinformation interchange.

On the 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 istranslated into an Internet address either via the hosts file, NIS or by the Domain Name System (DNS) orresolver. It is possible for one computer to have severalhostnames (aliases) though one is designated as itscanonical name.

It is often possible to guess a hostname for a particularinstitution. This is useful if you want to know if theyoperate network services like anonymous FTP, World-Wide Web or finger. First try the institution's name or obviousabbreviations thereof, with the appropriate domain appended,e.g. "mit.edu". If this fails, prepend "ftp." or "www." asappropriate, e.g. "www.data-io.com". You can use the pingcommand as a quick way to test whether a hostname is valid.

The folklore interest of hostnames stems from the creativityand humour they often display. Interpreting a sitename is notunlike interpreting a vanity licence plate; one has tomentally unpack it, allowing for mono-case and lengthrestrictions and the lack of whitespace. Hacker traditiondeprecates dull, institutional-sounding names in favour ofpunchy, humorous, and clever coinages (except that it isconsidered appropriate for the official public gateway machineof an organisation to bear the organisation's name oracronym). Mythological references, cartoon characters, animalnames, and allusions to SF or fantasy literature are probablythe most popular sources for sitenames (in roughly descendingorder). The obligatory comment is Harris's Lament: "All thegood ones are taken!"

See also network address.

hostname

(2)Berkeley Unix command to set and get the applicationlevel name used by the host.

Unix manual page: hostname(1).

hostname

The name assigned to a workstation or server in a network. In a Windows local area network, computers are given alphanumeric hostnames up to 15 characters in length with no spaces. For example, Maria's computer could be named maria or workstation3 or hplaptop003.

Internet Hostnames
On the Internet, a hostname is part of the address typed into a browser to access a website. Traditionally, WWW has been used for Web server hostnames. However, most websites can be addressed without the WWW, because the HTTP server (Web server) network port number 80 is automatically passed to the correct server by the routing or firewall equipment whether the WWW is present or not. See HOSTS file, IP address, FQDN and DNS.

The Format of an Internet Address

The hostname follows the protocol in a Web address. However, due to the ways Web servers can be shared, distributed, virtualized and clustered, merely looking at a domain name cannot really determine the true name of the host computer that will respond to the request.

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