Host name aliases

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 12:33 pm

Anyone know a way (in Linux) to setup host name aliases without knowing the IP address of the host? I know that in the /etc/hosts file I can equate any number of aliases to a given IP address but I don't know the IP of the node I want to alias.

I am using an FC2 installation and tapping onto a M$ Windows network. I know the name of the node I want to hit but it is so long that it's a pain in the @$$ to type it every time I want to FTP to it.

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 12:38 pm

you can't get the IP of this host you want to connect to, is it one of those virtual host setups?

Nitrofox125 · Post by **Nitrofox125** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 4:18 pm

Can you just set the 'really long name' to be the 'IP address' in the hosts file and use that? Or, set something up in ~/.login or ~/.profile (dunno which it is for your version) that sets your short name to the long name for you as a variable, kinda like path? (I don't know if that's possible, just an idea).

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 7:15 pm

The IP address changes (DHCP) so I would have to look it up quite often. The name of the node is "Bart-WinXP-In-Pauls-Office@magnacom-inc.com" ... duh ... so much for using a descriptive name when I set it up. Anyhow, re-typing that name over and over again is a pain in the arse. Imagine this ...

% ping Bart-WinXP-In-Pauls-Office@magnacom-inc.com
% ftp Bart-WinXP-In-Pauls-Office@magnacom-inc.com

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 7:42 pm

You would need some type of program like 'no-ip" for windows that would translate the PC's IP to a given name. Don't know of any for Linux.

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 7:57 pm

store it as a shell varible.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 9:18 pm

Well you could always run BIND on the machine, define an alias for your big long name, and configure it to refer all your other requests to the network's DNS server, but that would be a bit excessive.

In fact, if you have access to the DNS server that's already running on your network, why not add an alias right on that? That's a lot cleaner than storing the big long name in a shell variable.

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 9:30 pm

DCrazy wrote:In fact, if you have access to the DNS server that's already running on your network, why not add an alias right on that? That's a lot cleaner than storing the big long name in a shell variable.

That's a good idea but I don't have access to the server admin account. Looks like its gonna be a shell variable.

%!/bin/csh
% setenv BART Bart-WinXP-In-Pauls-Office@magnacom-inc.com
% ping $BART
% ftp $BART

That may not be so bad ...