Changing System Information

This section describes commands that enable you to change general system information.

How to Manually Set a System's Date and Time

1. Become an administrator.

   For more information, see How to Obtain Administrative Rights in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

2. Enter the new date and time.

   # date mmddHHMM[[cc]yy]

   mm

   Month, using two digits.

   dd

   Day of the month, using two digits.

   HH

   Hour, using two digits and a 24-hour clock.

   MM

   Minutes, using two digits.

   cc

   Century, using two digits.

   yy

   Year, using two digits.

   See the date(1) man page for more information.

3. Verify that you have reset your system's date correctly by using the date command with no options.

Example 2-7 Manually Setting a System's Date and Time

The following example shows how to use the date command to manually set a system's date and time.

# date
Monday, September 13. 2010 02:00:16 PM MDT
# date 0921173404
Thu Sep 17:34:34 MST 2010

How to Set Up a Message-Of-The-Day

Edit the message-of-the-day file, /etc/motd, to include announcements or inquiries to all users of a system when they log in. Use this feature sparingly, and edit this file regularly to remove obsolete messages.

1. Become the root user.

   $ su -
   Password:
   #

   ---

   Note - This method works whether root is a user or a role.

   ---

2. Edit the /etc/motd file and add a message of your choice.

   Edit the text to include the message that will be displayed during user login. Include spaces, tabs, and carriage returns.

3. Verify the changes by displaying the contents of the /etc/motd file.

   $ cat /etc/motd
   Welcome to the UNIX Universe. Have a nice day.

Example 2-8 Setting Up a Message-Of-The-Day

The default message-of-the-day, which is provided when you install Oracle Solaris software, contains version information. The following example shows an edited /etc/motd file that provides information about system availability to each user who logs in.

$ cat /etc/motd
The system will be down from 7:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m. on
Saturday, July 7, for upgrades and maintenance.
Do not try to access the system during those hours.
Thank you.

How to Change a System's Host Name

A system's host name is specified in several different locations.

Remember to update your name service database to reflect the new host name.

Use the following procedure to change or rename a system's host name.

You can also use the sys-unconfig command to reconfigure a system, including the host name. For more information, see the sys-unconfig(1M) man page.

1. Become the root user.
2. Change the system's host name in the following files:

   • /etc/nodename

   • /etc/hostname.*interface

   • /etc/inet/hosts

   • /etc/inet/ipnodes (Applies only to some releases)

3. (Optional) If you are using a name service, change the system's host name in the hosts file.
4. Rename the host name directory within the /var/crash directory.

   # cd /var/crash
   # mv old-host-name new-host-name

5. Reboot the system to activate the new host name.

   # init 6