Hostname question, and DNS question

[smallfish]

Okay, this has been confusing me the entire time through the ISPconfig setup, although I did succeed in the setup, everything seems to work great, except I am having huge issues with the SquirrelMail for some reason... I can't login, but anyways!

MY questions:

1st: The entire time through the install, you kept referring to hostname as server1.example.com, what exactly is this hostname stuff? Is it important, can it be anything we want? do the hostnames have to match everywhere? /etc/hostname, /etc/hosts, and setting up ispconfig? I honestly don't know what the hostname is?

What questions can I ask myself in choosing a hostname? Does it have to be a domain you plan on hosting? I mean, how do you choose a hostname!!?!?!

2nd: If for example I used the hostname ubuntu2.splitnetworks.com, do I have to register that nameserver somewhere and point it to my ispconfig box? For some reason I am under the impression your hostname must mean something and have to be a registered namesever? Maybe I am 100% wrong.

3rd: Since so far, I have been keeping the hostname the same through out everything in the howto (ubuntu2.splitnetworks.com), can I change the hostname in ispconfig to something else? for example: "myserver"

Someone please shine some light on this probably very dumb question that is DRIVING ME CRAZY

Thank you for helping, and I know it's prob a dumb question...

[ksb]

Hi,

You were given a hostname when you signed up with us, you can find it by just typing "hostname" from a ssh shell. DNS to the hostname couldn't hurt, and will make it so things like email function properly. For the hostname within ispconfig just set it to whatever "hostname" within a ssh shell returns. If you'd ever like your hostname changed just send an email to support@tektonic.net and we can change that for you.

[Jason]

Following are the answers:

1) A hostname is a name given to a host. It has to be (but not necessarily) a fully qualified domain name i.e. in the format of server.example.com. You can have a hostname as per your wish and it has to be set in the /etc/hosts file.

The hostname is set to identify your server on the network though mostly required for smooth functioning of emails. It is recommended that the hostname be set on the basis of your domain name.

2) If you set the hostname as ubuntu2.splitnetworks.com, you need to add an A record in the DNS zone of splitnetworks.com to make sure ubuntu2.splitnetworks.com resolves to your server IP. And in order to add an A record for the hostname, you should be the owner of splitnetworks.com.

3) Well, you can have a hostname as per your wish but a hostname for a VPS has to be set from the host server. If the hostname is set from within the VPS, it will revert back to what it was after a VPS reboot.

Please send an email to support@tektonic.net with the hostname you wish have and they will set it for you.