Differences between version 2 and predecessor to the previous major change of hosts(5).
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| Newer page: | version 2 | Last edited on Sunday, June 29, 2003 11:27:06 am | by CraigBox | Revert |
| Older page: | version 1 | Last edited on Tuesday, June 4, 2002 12:30:37 am | by perry | Revert |
@@ -1,111 +1,48 @@
-HOSTS
-!HOSTS
-NAME
-SYNOPSIS
-DESCRIPTION
-EXAMPLE
-HISTORICAL NOTE
-FILES
-SEE ALSO
-AUTHOR
-----
-!!NAME
-
+!!Name
hosts - The static table lookup for host names
-!!SYNOPSIS
-
+!!Synopsis
__/etc/hosts__
-!!DESCRIPTION
-
-
-This manual page describes the format of the
-''/etc/hosts'' file. This file is a simple text file that
-associates IP addresses with hostnames, one line per IP
-address. For each host a single line should be present with
-the following information:
-
-
-IP_address canonical_hostname aliases
-
-
-Fields of the entry are separated by any number of blanks
-and/or tab characters. Text from a
-localhost'' ). The
-format of the host table is described in RFC
-952.
-
-
-The Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) Server implements
-the Internet name server for UNIX systems. It replaces the
-''/etc/hosts'' file or host name lookup, and frees a host
-from relying on ''/etc/hosts'' being up to date and
-complete.
-
-
-In modern systems, even though the host table has been
-superseded by DNS, it is still widely used for
-
-
-__bootstrapping__
-
-Most systems have a small host table containing the name and
-address information for important hosts on the local
-network. This is useful when DNS is not running, for example
-during system bootup.
+!!Description
+This manual page describes the format of the ''/etc/hosts'' file. This file is a simple text file that associates IP addresses with hostnames, one line per IP address. For each host a single line should be present with the following information:
-__NIS__
+ IP
_address canonical
_hostname aliases
+Fields of the entry are separated by any number of blanks and/or tab characters. Text from a "#" character until the end of the line is a comment, and is ignored. Host names may contain any printable character other than a field delimiter, newline, or comment character. Aliases provide for name changes, alternate spellings, shorter hostnames, or generic hostnames (for example, ''localhost''). The format of the host table is described in RFC:952.
-Sites that use NIS use
the host table as input to
the NIS
-database. Even though NIS can be used with DNS
, most
-NIS sites still use the
host table with an entry for all
-local
hosts as a backup
.
+The Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) Server implements
the Internet name server for UNIX systems. It replaces
the ''/etc/hosts'' file or
host name lookup
, and frees a
host from relying on ''/etc/
hosts'' being up to date and complete
.
+In modern systems, even though the host table has been superseded by DNS, it is still widely used for:
-__isolated nodes
__
+;
__bootstrapping
__ : Most systems have a small host table containing the name and address information for important hosts on the local network. This is useful when DNS is not running, for example during system bootup. (See TroubleshootingStartUp)
+; __NIS__ : Sites that use NIS use the host table as input to the NIS host database. Even though NIS can be used with DNS, most NIS sites still use the host table with an entry for all local hosts as a backup.
-Very small sites that are isolated from the network use the
-
-
-
-!!EXAMPLE
+; __isolated nodes__ :
Very small sites that are isolated from the network use the host table instead of DNS. If the local information rarely changes, and the network is not connected to the internet, DNS offers little advantage.
+!!Example
127.0.0.1 localhost
-192.168.1.10 foo.mydomain.org foo
-192.168.1.13 bar.mydomain.org bar
-216.234.231.5 master.debian.org master
-205.230.163.103 www.opensource.org
-!!HISTORICAL NOTE
+
192.168.1.10 foo.mydomain.org foo
+ 192.168.1.13 bar.mydomain.org bar
+ 216.234.231.5 master.debian.org master
+ 205.230.163.103 www.opensource.org
+!Historical Note
-Before the advent of DNS, the host table was the only way of
-
-
-
-to
-date
regarding unofficial aliases and/or unknown hosts. The
-
-
-
-
-!!FILES
+Before the advent of DNS, the host table was the only way of resolving hostnames on the fledgling internet. Indeed, this file could be created from the official host data base maintained at the Network Information Control Center (NIC), though local changes were often required to bring it up todate
regarding unofficial aliases and/or unknown hosts. The NIC no longer maintains the hosts.txt files, though looking around at the time of writing (circa 2000), there are historical hosts.txt files on the WWW. I just found three, from 92, 94, and 95.
+!!Files
''/etc/hosts''
-!!SEE ALSO
+!!See Also
-hostname(1) resolver(3), resolver(5),
-
-
-!!AUTHOR
+hostname(1) resolver(3), resolver(5), hosts(5), hostname(7), named(8), Internet RFC:
952
+!!Author
-This manual page was written by Manoj Srivastava
-----
+This manual page was written by Manoj Srivastava (srivasta@debian.org), for the Debian GNU/Linux system.
