HOSTS(5)

NAME
hosts - hostname to IP address database

SYNOPSIS
/etc/hosts

DESCRIPTION
The hosts database lists the IP addresses and the hostnames that translate to these IP addresses. It is used by nonamed(8) in a network without name servers. A simple /etc/hosts may look like this:

    127.0.0.1	localhost
    192.9.200.1	darask
    192.9.200.2	burask

The localhost entry lists a special address that refers to the local host itself (a kind of /dev/tty for hosts.) You should only list it if nonamed needs it! The other entries are actual machines. The file may contain comments marked with '#'.

You can have aliases (more hostnames on the same line), but it is not recommended, because nonamed can't present them to the system as CNAME records. An often seen form like

    192.9.200.1    darask.home.cs.vu.nl  darask

is harmless though, and has the small advantage that you can use the short name in /etc/ethers so rarpd can match it at boot time.

FILES

/etc/hosts
    Hosts database.

SEE ALSO
ethers(5), nonamed(8), rarpd(8), boot(8).

AUTHOR
Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)