Question about AT FAQ for Samba

[DeadSeaSquirrels]

in the AT FAQ for Samba, there is a troubleshooter that reads:
If it says "couldn't connect to compname", open your /etc/hosts file and add an entry for the computer you're trying to connect to.

I am a real newbie at linux and definitely at samba, and I was wonderin how I exactly "add an entry for the computer", what information am I suppose to add? The first part looks like the IP address of the computer, but the second part, I'm not sure.

 

[bozo1]

If you are unable to ping the remote computer by name, then there is a DNS problem somewhere. Adding it to your hosts file gives the machine it's IP address since DNS isn't working right. (or the remote computer isn't defined, whatever)

 

[krystalogik]

the second part is the FQDN (fully qualified domain name) for your computer, and the third field is the hostname.

mine looks like this:

192.168.0.103 <tab> neuron.k.net <tab> neuron

since im still largely a newb to linux i havent set up a domain or anything but so far, having a bogus FQDN hasnt broken anything

Good luck!

 

[DeadSeaSquirrels]

ok, but how do I add the computer info to that file? I mean the nitty gritty part. What information should I be adding?

 

[Nothinman]

Any text editor can open /etc/hosts.

 

[DeadSeaSquirrels]

ok, FQDM, hmm, what if i don't have a domain? I am not in a domain...well I'll try something bogus. By the way I tried to ping my Win2k computer using its hostname and it didn't work. I pinged the IPaddress and it did, so I guess something is wrong with my host file.

 

[krystalogik]

add an entry in the /etc/hosts file for the win2k box, and then you should be able to ping by hostname.

 

[n0cmonkey]

echo "ip.address computername.domainname computername" >> /etc/hosts

 

[DeadSeaSquirrels]

Ah...what does "ip.address computername.domainname computername" mean? I don't have a domainname and which computer name, the win2k I presume.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: DeadSeaSquirrels
Ah...what does "ip.address computername.domainname computername" mean? I don't have a domainname and which computer name, the win2k I presume.

I hope you know what an ip address is, so I will skip that part. I don't have a domain name at my house, so I made one up. You can do the same. Computername happens to be the name of the remote machine.

 

[DeadSeaSquirrels]

so even though I specified on my Win2k machine that I am not on a domain and that I don't have a domain name that is alright? By setting a false domain name on the host file that won't screw things up?

 

[krystalogik]

hasnt screwed mine up yet