DOMAINNAME(8) Maintenance Commands and Procedures DOMAINNAME(8)

NAME

domainname - set or display name of the current domain

SYNOPSIS

domainname [name-of-domain]

DESCRIPTION

Without an argument, domainname displays the name of the current domain
name used in RPC exchanges, usually referred to as the NIS domain name.
This name typically encompasses a group of hosts or passwd entries under
the same administration. The domainname command is used by various
components of Solaris to resolve names for entries such as are found in
passwd, hosts and aliases. By default, naming services such as NIS use
domainname to resolve names.


With appropriate privileges (root or an equivalent role [see rbac(7)]),
you can set the name of the domain by specifying the name as an argument
to the domainname command.


The domain name for various naming services can also be set by other
means. For example, ypinit can be used to specify a different domain for
all NIS calls. The domain name of the machine is usually set during boot
time through the domainname command by the svc:/system/identity:domain
service. If the new domain name is not saved in the /etc/defaultdomain
file, the machine reverts to the old domain after it reboots.


The sendmail(8) daemon, as shipped with Solaris, and the sendmail
implementation provided by sendmail.org (formerly referred to as
"Berkeley 8.x sendmail") both attempt to determine a local host's fully
qualified host name at startup and both pursue follow-up actions if the
initial search fails. It is in these follow-up actions that the two
implementations differ.


Both implementations use a standard Solaris or Unix system call to
determine its fully qualified host name at startup, following the name
service priorities specified in nsswitch.conf(5). To this point, the
Solaris and sendmail.org versions behave identically.


If the request for a fully qualified host name fails, the sendmail.org
sendmail sleeps for 60 seconds, tries again, and, upon continuing
failure, resorts to a short name. The Solaris version of sendmail makes
the same initial request, but then, following initial failure, calls
domainname. If successful, the sleep is avoided.


On a Solaris machine, if you run the sendmail.org version of sendmail,
you get the startup behavior (omitting the domainname call) described
above. If you run the Solaris sendmail, the domainname call is made if
needed.


If the Solaris sendmail cannot determine the fully qualified host name,
use check-hostname(8) as a troubleshooting aid. This script can offer
guidance as to appropriate corrective action.

FILES

/etc/defaultdomain


/etc/nsswitch.conf

SEE ALSO

svcs(1), aliases(5), defaultdomain(5), hosts(5), nsswitch.conf(5),
passwd(5), attributes(7), rbac(7), smf(7), check-hostname(8),
hostconfig(8), named(8), sendmail(8), svcadm(8), ypinit(8)

NOTES

The domainname service is managed by the service management facility,
smf(7), under the service identifier:

svc:/system/identity:domain


Administrative actions on this service, such as enabling, disabling, or
requesting restart, can be performed using svcadm(8). The service's
status can be queried using the svcs(1) command.

May 13, 2017 DOMAINNAME(8)