Hostname and Fully Qualified Domain Name ConfigurationΒΆ
Hostname and Fully Qualified Domain Name Configuration
In order to make sure that the Apache server correctly determines
the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the server and that the
virtual hosts use the correct server URL, the hostname should be
configured correctly. This is preferred instead of modifying the
Apache server name configuration so that all the software looks to
the same source for determining FQDNs. If the command
hostname -f
returns the correct FQDN hostname then the system
is correctly configured to run Open GEE. If not the following
instructions may help.
Ideally the network where GEE is installed has a DNS set up to
resolve hostnames so that IP traffic can be routed appropriately.
However in cases where there is no DNS, static hostnames can be
used as well. With static hostnames the hostname
or
hostnamectl
command should be used to set the hostname to its
FQDN. The /etc/hostname
file should be updated to match as
well so the name stays after reboots. If setting the hostname to
the FQDN is not possible, then setting the FQDN in the
/etc/hosts
file is necessary. When using a static hostname,
some operating systems may still give a warning on Apache startup
even if it correctly determined the FQDN. Adding the FQDN to
/etc/hosts
would fix this as well. If adding the FQDN to
/etc/hosts
is needed, then the FQDN followed by just the host
portion should be added to the line that contains the IP address
the server will be listening on. This should be the first line of
the file:
127.0.0.1 myserver.mydomainname.com myserver localhost
If GEE is not using DNS other clients that connect to the server non-locally would need to have the same static mapping set up in their hosts files since the server hostname would not be resolved dynamically.
When determining where to look for the correct FQDN Apache calls
hostname
which will use a resolver. The system configuration
determines what the order is for resolving the FQDN. If the
/etc/nsswitch.conf
file is being used there is a line like
this that defines the order:
hosts: dns myhostname files
This example shows that the DNS on the network would be queried
first. If that does not define the FQDN then the hostname would be
queried. If the FQDN is still not defined then configuration files
would be queried, mainly /etc/hosts
.
If the /etc/host.conf
file is being used to resolve the
hostname, then there is a line like this that defines the order:
order hosts,bind
In this example hosts refers to the /etc/hosts
file and is
checked first, and bind refers to the DNS.
Here is another note on the server hostname.