Where does FreeBSD store hostname once set?

[MrPete]

Or maybe I should ask, is it stored anywhere? :)

I sure can't find it in the supposedly normal places (/etc/hostname, /etc/rc.conf)

[rcoleman-netgate]

@mrpete it is set from your XML file by a script - there is no stored file in pfSense but configured using the /bin/hostname binary.

Set the hostname in the GUI: System->General Setup

[MrPete]

@rcoleman-netgate
I know about config.xml...

So my guess was correct: it's not necessarily stored anywhere, just set dynamically. Interesting!

[Gertjan]

@mrpete said in Where does FreeBSD store hostname once set?:

anywhere

Try this :

I presume your LAN interface has the default IP 192.168.1.1

Ok go for :

host 192.168.1.1

if you've set a host override for the other LAN or WAN interface IPs, you'll get that host.domain back.

Btw : a firewall / router has multiple interfaces, so, what is the host name ?
Depends.
What interface ?

Btw :

uname -i

returns what you've set in System > General Setup > Hostname ( ? )

[rcoleman-netgate]

@mrpete said in Where does FreeBSD store hostname once set?:

it's not necessarily stored anywhere

It is stored... it is in /conf/config.xml

[MrPete]

Wow!
@Gertjan, nope.

• uname -i returns "pfSense" which I have not configured anywhere. (My general settings host is "jasmine" ;) )
• rDNS for each interface of course could be anything... or several things. That's why I wasn't asking about that.

@rcoleman-netgate /conf/config.xml is where pfSense keeps the configuration info, yes.

I am asking about FreeBSD because various systems, apps, tools, security monitors etc want to know about system names.

Apparently the answer, for a pfSense setup, is:

• We don't use the typical FreeBSD config files
• But hostname will give the needed information

I'm good with that!

[jimp]

FYI- uname -i is the name of the kernel config file, not your hostname.

The hostname from config.xml gets set via hostname so it's set in the kernel, plus added to /etc/hosts, the unbound config, dnsmasq config, etc.

See also:
https://github.com/pfsense/pfsense/blob/master/src/etc/inc/system.inc#L880

[Gertjan]

@mrpete

Indeed, I stand corrected.
Stupid me, as my pfSense was called pfSense when I got it, and I found that, back then, a good device name.
I'm not sure why I was checking out all the "uname" options, abd stopped at the -i option. Should have fact check that one first.
Worse : I forgot about 'hostname', as that command name gives right away the answer to the question.

Btw :

hostname | awk -F"." '{print $1}'

[MrPete]

@jimp Thanks, Jim!
The Code always FTW :)

I do have a question, now that I see this picture:

Although the hostname IS listed as local-data in /var/unbound/host_entries.conf ... hostname is NOT used as the rDNS (local-data-ptr in the same file)!

Instead, whatever entry happens to be first in the list of host overrides is used.

Is that expected? Seems kinda random and unintuitive to me.

[MrPete]

@gertjan said in Where does FreeBSD store hostname once set?:

hostname | awk -F"." '{print $1}'

Simpler: hostname -s (and hostname -d gives the domain part :-D)

[jimp]

@mrpete said in Where does FreeBSD store hostname once set?:

@jimp Thanks, Jim!
The Code always FTW :)

I do have a question, now that I see this picture:

Although the hostname IS listed as local-data in /var/unbound/host_entries.conf ... hostname is NOT used as the rDNS (local-data-ptr in the same file)!

Instead, whatever entry happens to be first in the list of host overrides is used.

Is that expected? Seems kinda random and unintuitive to me.

I don't see what you mean there on my systems here. I have an unrelated host override defined and yet the firewall's own hostname is there in forward/reverse:

local-data-ptr: "10.34.0.1 pfSense.home.arpa"
local-data: "pfSense.home.arpa. A 10.34.0.1"

You're probably misreading the file, or have something else in your config that's overriding the expected behavior.

[MrPete]

@jimp I think this is a real bug.

First, some context, most of which probably doesn't matter at all ;)

• My actual pfSense hostname is in the middle of the alphabet (jasmine.ds.org)
• I have a number of subnets, but primary is 192.168.1.0/24 with pfSense at .1.1 (and .1.2 , .1.3 for CARP)
• I do have a host override for the hostname to .1.1 (changing or removing this has no impact)
• (This may be crucial) I have a number of host overrides that all point to .1.1 for HAproxy use

I just proved my conjecture

• Clearly rDNS for a given IP can and must only point to one name
• I would hope that hostname takes priority over all others in that regard
• Instead, what I suggested above is true: the local rDNS name given to the local hostname IP, will be: whatever name is alphabetically first in the host override list.

You can test this yourself:

• Add an override to the top of the list, pointing to your LAN pfSense IP (in my case: aa-test.ds.org -> 192.168.1.1)
• The local rDNS became: local-data-ptr: "192.168.1.1 aa-test.ds.org"
• Changing other things has no impact

I guess we could say that use of HAproxy overrides the expected behavior?

Are you thinking that as long as NO other override points to .1.1, pfSense will configure a local-data-ptr entry for the hostname?

I also note: names (hostname or otherwise) are also not auto-assigned to any other local subnet gateway IP's (from DHCP, interface IP, or otherwise.)

At this point, my expectations are low: I'm fine with no names for most of those... I would just hope that whatever local IP is/are assigned to hostname, would take precedence for the reverse, period (whether or not other overrides are present.) It would avoid quite a bit of name confusion ;)

[jimp]

You can open a Redmine for that, will get addressed eventually. Seems like it will be quite a bit trickier to solve than it appears on the surface, though.