Re: Irssi IP/Hostname question

Quoting Herr Schnegg ([email protected]):

> I used yast to configure the hostname for my public ip address. one of
> the entries is: 127.0.0.1 localhost now I created another with my
> public ip address (the same as /whois gives back), mydomain.tdl as
> Host Name and also mydomain.tdl as host alias.  Is that correct?

That is correct, but this only sets the name for your local system when
it does lookups. This setting does *NOT* affect how the other hosts on
the internet see your 'hostname'. Read below.

> Now I started irssi by using the following command:
> irssi --hostname=mydomain.tdl --nick=herr_schnegg --connect=myircserver
> but /whois nevertheless gives back my public ip.

Ok. Your internet connection as a public IP address, say
111.112.113.114.  This IP address is provided by your ISP.  The IP
address has a reverse (that is, a hostname, say
111-112-113-114.dsl.isp.net). This 'reverse' is configured by your ISP.

When you connect to an IRC server (like IRCnet, Undernet, Efnet, etc),
the IRC server only sees a connection comin from '111.112.113.114'.
Internet works with IP addresses, hostnames are invented because people
were too dumb to remember all those ip-addresses.

So when you connect to a server, it sees your IP address and looks up
what name belongs to that IP address. This name is the reverse
(hostname) your ISP has configured for that IP.

There is *no* way you can change this reverse name *yourself* if the
IP-space is not maintained / configured by you. You might try asking
your ISP, but the chances they'll change the name are slim.

I hope my story is clear ;)

-- 
| $ perl -e 'length q bless glob and print chr oct ord q mkdir m and print \
| chr ord q xor x and print chr ord q q q and print chr ord uc q map m and \
| print chr ord q qw q and print chr ord q each le and print chr ord q my \
| alarm and print chr oct oct ord uc qw q for q'  -  Don't you LOVE perl?