Hello.

I'm sorry, I mistake the place to post replies. But I'm on the way now.

I was saying that I just read your "How to Configure Samba on RedHat Linux" tutorial.
I configured my samba server and I could connect my shared folder on localhost.

But here is the problem: When I navigate through network neighborhood in my Windows XP pro box, I can see the samba PC but, when I open it, I get an error message. It says that I have a duplicate name on the network. Look:

---------
\\localhost is not accessible.You might not have permission to use this network
resource. contact the administrator.......

You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network. Go to
System in Control Pael to change computer name and try again.
---------

It can be possible another Linux PC in the network has already that name.
Anyway, I should be able to change the name of my computer in the network.
Do you know what is gonig on?

Thanks in advance

The name "localhost" has a special meaning in TCP/IP networking- it is an alias to the local loopback device IP of 127.0.0.1, which is present on any machine running TCP/IP regardless of operating system. As such, "localhost" should never be used as the actual computer name/hostname for any machine on a network, because it causes exactly the conflict you're experiencing.

If any computer on your network is using "localhost" as its hostname, you need to change that name to something unique.

OK

So, I can think that the only I need to do is to change the name from 'localhost' to another one to identify my PC over the network and, -in theory- it should work, right?

I'm using Red Hat. Can you tell me how / where can I change it?

To set the machine's host name in Redhat, you can do one of two things:

A) In the /etc directory you might find a file named HOSTNAME (if you don't, just create the file). It should contain a single line containing the hostname.

B) In your /etc/sysconfig/network file, enter the hostname after the equal sign on the "HOSTNAME=" line.

Ok, I did it.

But now I have another question.
Before change /etc/sysconfig/network I was working at 'localhost'.

When I changed the name, I couldn't open localhost (nither 127.0.0.1), of course because I just changed it .

If I write the new name I just put into /etc/sysconfig/network I only get an error msg.

What can I do in order to work again in localhost?

Thanks in advance

OK- try this:

Open your /etc/hosts file in a text editor and do the following:

Change the line that reads something similar to:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost

to:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost put_your_new_hostname_here

For example, if you chose a hostname of "linuxbox", the entry would read:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost linuxbox

Hi.

I did that.
In fact, When I'm using a console I can see in the prompt, the name I put under /etc/hosts

but the problem now is that I cannot see my 'localhost', ,i get the next error msg.

Socket Error

Connection refused by Remote Host

what can I do now?

thanx DMR

Sorry- I should have asked this before: are you assigning your IP info to each of your machines manually, or do you have a device (a router perhaps) acting as a DHCP server for your network? Issues of hostname problems vary depending on which addressing scheme you use.

I fussed around with localhost network settings for a few hours and then just started the smb service and it worked.

And so you dug up a 1 1/2 year old thread just to let us know? :mrgreen: