[SunHELP] Where does OS get the hostid ona Intel machine?

[David Eisner]

I'm not sure which one andrew really wanted to know about, but
hostname != hostid.

>From the Solaris on Intel - x86 FAQ (http://sun.drydog.com/faq/):

  (7.5) My licensed software fails because the host ID is 0. What's wrong?
  
  Intel processor machines don't have an IDPROM, so Sun generates a serial
  number, hostid command or sysinfo()'s SI_HW_SERIAL, pseudo-randomly during
  installation. The number is stored in /kernel/misc/sysinit, whose only
  function, it appears, is to provide the serial number. If serialization
  information is tampered or sysinit fails to load, the host ID will be
  0. If you reinstall Solaris, sysinit will be regenerated and your host ID
  will change. So be careful about reinstalling Solaris if you have licensed
  software that depends on your host ID. Backup your sysinit file.
  
  To preserve the same ID (and therefore licenses), copy file
  /kernel/misc/sysinit to the replacement system. I understand the Sun
  Workshop Manual says this is allowed twice per calendar year (please
  verify this yourself).
  
  For more information, see the Sun NVRAM/hostid FAQ, available at
  http://www.squirrel.com/squirrel/sun-nvram-hostid.faq.html and
  elsewhere. This also has tools to fake hostids.


-David


On Tue, 23 Oct 2001, Meng, Andrew wrote:

> Edward,
> 
> Can I change the hostid in Linux to be the same as the Inter Solaris' one?
> Thanks!
> 
> Andrew
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Edward Chase [mailto:echase at postoffice.providence.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2001 11:20 AM
> To: sunhelp at sunhelp.org
> Subject: Re: [SunHELP] Where does OS get the hostid ona Intel machine?
> 
> 
> The hostname is part of the OS configuration.  If you dual boot the machine 
> one OS could refer to the machine as one name, the other OS could refer to 
> the machine as another name.
> 
> DHCP and DNS will present it's own issues if you want to use different
> names.
> 
> 
> At 10:44 AM 10/23/2001 -0400, Meng, Andrew wrote:
> >Hi there,
> >
> >Can anyone tell me where OS get the hostid for Intel Solaris machine? If I
> >install Linux on the same intel machine, do I get the same hostid. The
> >reason that I am asking is that some software license is linked to the
> >hostid.
> >
> >Thanks in advance!
> >
> >Andrew
>