Computer Name

[Electroman]

I have heard that the computer name can be used instead of the ip address. But I have also been told that this only works for Networks. Does this mean it won't work on the interent?

[susn]

Yes.

*

[Electroman]

Are you sure and if so how can I connect to computers with out knowing the ip address, i.e. is there anything that will be constant.

[susn]

Am i not really an Expert in Networking.
It depends on the Service and the Protocol witch is used for a connection.
But i think the way is going over the IP.

Greetz,

Susn

[Electroman]

I was just wondering because I know that each time you log on to the interent your IP changes and this means that you need some way for getting the ip so you can use TCP or UDP.
So I was trying to see if anyone know of something that would be constant, like a Computer Name.

I just thought I'd mention this because its related
Micro$oft have plans to change the IP system and its well under the way. The plan is to change from IPv4 to IPv6, put simpley the IP addresses will contain 6 numbers instead of 4 i.e. will be xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx instead of xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

[HaxSoft]

One way to hack around this problem with dynamic IP addresses (as the pro's call it) ... is to have an "IP Poster" application upload your IP address to a web page on some web server so that other people can find your "name" (or "number" if you will).

[chrisjk]

Micro$oft have plans to change the IP system and its well under the way. The plan is to change from IPv4 to IPv6, put simpley the IP addresses will contain 6 numbers instead of 4 i.e. will be xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx instead of xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Oh, so if Microsoft do something the world has to do the same, right??? Screw that. Gates can burn, after giving his money to a) Africa, b) me, c) anyone else who is hard up.

[Electroman]

HaxSoft:
I was thinking of such a solution but wouldn't have mean the username and password for the ftp site would need to be embeded into the program. If so then if a person comes along and opens my exe in notepad or decompiles it the username and password are available to them. Is this right?


chrisjk:
I see there may be a problem but it is more a case of getting prepared for the future, it is expected that soon we will have problems connecting simply because there isn't enough IP addresses

[HaxSoft]

ELECTRO:
Yes, unfortunately!

There is one other solution ... you could use an ICQ number (but that too might change in the future).

Another suggestion is a free message board that does NOT require a password ... I can find one for you, but the problem seems to be "How do you find the most recent message to get right IP?"

Oh... incidentally, a free message board is available atwww.mycomputer.com/boardserver << THINK that was it. I am not sure it could solve your problem, but it's worth a shot anyway.

[Electroman]

Thanx HaxSoft. I'll have a go at that.

[HaxSoft]

Let me know if it works, OK?

[chrisjk]

Originally posted by Electroman
chrisjk:
I see there may be a problem but it is more a case of getting prepared for the future, it is expected that soon we will have problems connecting simply because there isn't enough IP addresses

True, but what has it got to do with MS? Surely it should be the internet naming commitee or some other name registrar, not Bill's Band of Bug Men.

[Electroman]

I tried that URL and it doesn't exist so I am going to try and host another website which will be a free one. Something like:
http://MyURL.Homepage.com
Except Hompage.com has closed. So do you know any other cheap hosting site?

[Electroman]

As for the IPv6. Micro$oft is involved because they are adding support to it in Windows. They have a package which enables Win2k to test the new system.

[HaxSoft]

This URL should work:

http://boardserver.mycomputer.com

[Stephenb]

Some notes regarding IP V6

The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) originally developed Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) to interconnect various defense department computer networks. The Internet, an international Wide Area Network, uses TCP/IP to connect government and educational institutions across the world. TCP/IP is also in widespread use on commercial and private networks.

IPv6 increases the IP address size from 32 bits to 128 bits, to support more levels of addressing hierarchy, a much greater number of addressable nodes and simpler auto-configuration of addresses. Scalability of multicast addresses is introduced. A new type of address called an anycast address is also defined, to send a packet to any one of a group of nodes.

I pulled this info from Protocol.com if you would like to know more.

Microsoft will be just one of the companies that will get ready to use this new Standard when its ready to be implemented.

As far as the computer name question. On the internet (or on a Intranet) you can have a computer registered on a DNS server and refer to it by name instead of the address. The DNS server knows the address for the computer's name. However this is usually set up by large companies or by ISP's for specific purposes. for home users it is not practical to assign a DNS entry for a computer that the IP address changes each log on.

[ExtremePimpness]

If using the computer name only works on netwoks would it work on the Comcast network because they set it up so that you each have a different comp name? and it accesses a local network before the internet. So if i would use my friends compnae would it let me connect do you think?

[kimyen]

eeerrr.... I attended an IPv6 seminar in my uni 2 years ago and know that it's going to be a big splash on it. I think so that Msoft is not the only company who are going to make IPv6 a standard.
I know Bill Gates sucks, chrisjk. But having more address for increasing demand is not that bad, isn't?

[Stephenb]

Name resolution on a local network is usually resolved with Netbeui. And this protocol is not enabled on the internet because it is not routable.
Imagine what would happen if it was. You would have to make sure that the name you want for your computer is unique or you would conflict with the other computer of the same name. In other words, it doesn't work.
We've had this happen a couple of times when we would set up new servers on our enterprise WAN. Someone had set another server up shortly there after using the same name. result: Nobody could connect. The only way we discovered the issue was to down our server and the PING the computer name. It came back with a different IP address. We called the other site up and said we had the name first. It took some discussion but we got the name.