NAME

zgenhostid —

generate host ID into /etc/hostid

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

Creates /etc/hostid file and stores the host ID in it. If hostid was provided, validate and store that value. Otherwise, randomly generate an ID.

OPTIONS

-h: Display a summary of the command-line options.
-f: Allow output overwrite.
-o filename: Write to filename instead of the 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 0, generate a random ID. This value must be unique among your systems. It must be an 8-digit-long hexadecimal number, 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 overwrite the file if it exists: # zgenhostid -f -o /tmp/hostid 0x01234567

HISTORY

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