uname.1 (2010 09)

uname(1) uname(1)

Many types of networking services are supported on HP-UX, each of which uses a separately assigned

system name and naming convention. To ensure predictable system behavior, it is essential that system

names (also called host names or node names) be assigned in such a manner that they do not create

conﬂicts when the various networking facilities interact with each other.

The system does not rely on a single system name in a speciﬁc location, partly because different services

use dissimilar name formats as explained below. The

hostname and uname commands assign system

names as follows:

Node Name Command name Format Used By

Internet name hostname name sys[.x.y.z...] ARPA and NFS Services

UUCP name uname -S name sys uucp and related programs

where sys represents the assigned system name. It is strongly recommended that sys be identical for all

commands and locations and that the optional

x.y.z... follow the speciﬁed notation for the particular

ARPA/NFS environment.

Internet names are also frequently called host names or domain names (which are different from NFS

domain names). Refer to hostname (5) for more information about Internet naming conventions.

Whenever the system name is changed in any ﬁle or by the use of any of the above commands, it should

also be changed in all other locations as well. Other ﬁles or commands in addition to those above (such as

/etc/uucp/Permissions

if used to circumvent uname, for example) may contain or alter system

names. To ensure correct operation, they should also use the same system name.

System names are normally assigned by the

/sbin/init.d/hostname

script at start-up, and should

not be altered elsewhere.

Setting a nodename of more than 8 bytes is possible only with the appropriate conﬁguration options

enabled. It is strongly recommended that all related documentation be completely understood before set-

ting a larger node name. A node name larger than 8 bytes can cause anomalous or incorrect behavior in

applications which use the

uname command or the uname() system function to access the name.