zgenhostid.8

ZGENHOSTID(8)

System Manager's Manual (smm)

ZGENHOSTID(8)

NAME

zgenhostid — generate and store a hostid in /etc/hostid

SYNOPSIS

zgenhostid

[-f] [-o filename] [hostid]

DESCRIPTION

Creates /etc/hostid file and stores hostid in it. If the user provides [hostid] on the command line, validates and stores that value. Otherwise, randomly generates a value to store.

-h

Display a summary of the command-line options.

-f

Force file overwrite.

-o filename

Write to filename instead of default /etc/hostid

hostid

Specifies the value to be placed in /etc/hostid. It should be a number with a value between 1 and 2^32-1. If it is 0, zgenhostid will generate a random hostid. This value must be unique among your systems. It must be expressed in hexadecimal and be exactly 8 digits long, optionally prefixed by 0x.

FILES

/etc/hostid

EXAMPLES

Generate a random hostid and store it

# zgenhostid

Record the libc-generated hostid in /etc/hostid

# zgenhostid "$(hostid)"

Record a custom hostid (0xdeadbeef) in /etc/hostid

# zgenhostid deadbeef

Record a custom hostid (0x01234567) in /tmp/hostid

and ovewrite the file if it exists

# zgenhostid -f -o /tmp/hostid 0x01234567

SEE ALSO

genhostid(1), hostid(1), sethostid(3), spl-module-parameters(5)

HISTORY

zgenhostid emulates the genhostid(1) utility and is provided for use on systems which do not include the utility or do not provide sethostid(3) call.

March 18, 2021

Debian