Bonjour components may also be included within other software such as iTunes and Safari. Bonjour can also be installed onto computers running Microsoft Windows. The software comes built-in with Apple’s OS X and iOS operating systems. Bonjour locates devices such as printers, other computers, and the services that those devices offer on a local network using multicast Domain Name System (mDNS) service records. įor example, if your computer’s name is My Computer, your local network name is “My-Computer.local.”īonjour is Apple’s implementation of zero-configuration networking (zeroconf), a group of technologies that includes service discovery, address assignment, and hostname resolution. The local network name is your computer’s name with “.local” added, and any spaces are replaced with hyphens. Your computer’s Bonjour name is displayed beneath the computer’s name at the top of Sharing preferences. Your computer’s local hostname, or Bonjour name, is displayed on your local network so others on the network can connect to your Mac and other functionality like AirDrop, iTunes Sharing, etc. If you have file sharing turned on in Sharing preferences, users on your network can find your Mac listed by its computer name.įor your Mac appears at the top of Sharing preferences. The hostname began as a simple string of alphanumeric characters (and possibly a hyphen) and has evolved to its current definition, where hostname means a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) that absolutely and uniquely identifies every computer hooked up to the Internet. With the advent of the Internet, the requirements for enabling computers to communicate with each other on a network included the concept of the hostname. Computers have always needed unique addresses to talk to each other. Computers are also named to differentiate one machine from another and to allow for such activities as network communication. A person’s name, for instance, comprises a set of alphabetic characters that allows a person to be individually addressed.

3 Likes Hostname, Computer Name, Local HostName… Oh MyĪ name is a label that is used to distinguish one thing from another.

What is mac computer name