Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!dptg!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hpda!hpcuhb!hpindda!dfc
From: dfc@hpindda.HP.COM (Don Coolidge)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: nodename restriction
Message-ID: <4310055@hpindda.HP.COM>
Date: 29 Aug 89 20:32:18 GMT
References: <2266@umbc3.UMBC.EDU>
Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 33

>   I've gotten the message that having a three field nodename for you system 
>   has no restrictions on your machine, since the nodename is only concerned 
>   with 'prepriatary' Network Services.   But for consistency reasons I'd like
>   to have a four field nodename, such as 'cityzoo.acs.umbc.edu'.   Mainly 
>   because sendmail thinks this is the nodename anyway.  Can anybody tell me
>   how this can be done.  I've seen some postings on the net from a 'four 
>   field node', so it has been done.
>
>   And could you tell me the reasoning behind this 'restriction', and if there
>   are any problems/restrictions/constraints that will have to be worked 
>   around to make this work.

I'm sorry, but you appear to be confusing nodename and domain name, as was
the original poster (I've since received email from him, and he's clear on that
now). As you pointed out, the nodename is used only by HP-proprietary Network
Services - that is, by NFT and RFA. Sendmail isn't among them. Sendmail never
sees an HP nodename. All it ever sees is either a hostname or a domain name.
What you want is a four-field domain name, not nodename. (If you're telling
sendmail that your nodename is also your domain name, that's your choice, of
course. Just be aware that that's what you're doing.)

The nodename may, or may not, have parts in common with the other two. For
instance, my machine's hostname is hpindaw; its nodename is hpindaw.ind.hp;
its domain name is hpindaw.hp.com (or hpindaw.HP.COM). In the near future,
the domain name will be changing to a four-field name. The nodename will remain
unchanged. The nodename is restricted to three fields by HP spec; that can't be
changed.

It's unfortunate that HP nodenames look so much like domain names, but it's not
surprising - they evolved separately to fulfill many of the same functions. HP
nodenames have been around longer than domain names, though.

Don Coolidge