xref: /openbmc/docs/designs/unique-hostname.md (revision f4febd00)
1# Setting a unique hostname to the BMC machine on first boot
2
3Author: Asmitha KR
4
5Other contributors: None
6
7Created: 2019-05-07
8
9## Problem Description
10
11In OpenBMC, the hostname discovery is done by the avahi Dbus service at the
12startup. In a network where there are multiple OpenBMC machines, avahi keeps
13getting the hostname conflict and the service name conflict. Hence, the problem
14is to find a solution that resolves these conflicts.
15
16## Background and References
17
18The detailed issue regarding the hostname and service name conflicts is
19described in the following links.
20
21https://github.com/openbmc/openbmc/issues/1741.
22https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/avahi/2018-January/002492.html
23https://github.com/lathiat/avahi/issues/117
24
25## Requirements
26
27None.
28
29## Proposed Design
30
31To solve this, we are proposing a service which assigns a unique hostname to the
32BMC and runs on the very first boot. one of the ways to generate the unique
33hostname is to append the Serial Number retrieved from Inventory Manager to the
34existing default hostname.
35
36## Alternatives Considered
37
38None.
39
40## Impacts
41
42None.
43
44## Testing
45
46None.
47