Dear Shu.
Thanks for that explanation.
>> Concerning RH or CentOS: I have to define /etc/hosts on all machines
>> that do not obtain their hostname via DHCP. I have not yet figured out
>> that the HOSTNAME variable in /etc/sysconfig/network is used in any
>> form (correct me if I am wrong).
>
> See /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit. In that file you can find following lines
>
> ----
> (snip)
>
> if [ -f /etc/sysconfig/network ]; then
> . /etc/sysconfig/network
> fi
>
> (snip)
>
> # Set the hostname.
> update_boot_stage RChostname
> action $"Setting hostname ${HOSTNAME}: " hostname ${HOSTNAME}
>
> (snip)
> ----
>
> The ${HOSTNAME} variable comes form /etc/sysconfig/network.
I still wonder why it also works if hostname is only set in /etc/hosts like:
127.0.0.1 localhost
10.0.0.50 myserver.domain.example myserver
and $HOSTNAME is undefined.
Best Regards
Marcus