The name of a specific server on a specific network within the Internet, leftmost in the complete host specifications For example, www microsoft com indicates the server called "www" within the network at the Microsoft Corporation
The name assigned to a machine for easy reference by humans Examples include www and mail Often, the host name does not include the domain name to which the machine belongs
The name of a computer that is attached to a network The host name typically includes a computer name and the organization that the computer belongs to Example: webcpo1 Watchfire com
A host computer is one that is connected directly to the Internet A host name looks like: www srl rmit edu au It is really an alias for the unique IP number of the host computer It can be useful for discovering where a computer is and who it represents, for example, "www srl rmit edu au" suggests a computer called www in an area called sunrise at rmit which is apparently an educational institution in Australia The following might be useful: edu - educational gov - government org - non-profit organisation com - commercial mil - military net - public network Typical country codes are
(Installation Guide for HP 9000 Series HP-UX, Linux Intel, and Solaris Operating System (SPARC); search in this book)