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:
10.0.0.1 flotsam
10.0.0.2 jetsam
These two entries give names to two IP addresses. The file
may contain comments marked with '#'.
You can have aliases (more hostnames on the same line) to
give a machine more than one name, like www, if you run a
web server on one.
If your PC is Internet connected then you can specify the
name server(s) to get more information from with %nameserver
entries:
172.16.24.3 %nameserver # dns1.example.com
172.16.24.6 %nameserver # dns2.example.com
Read nonamed(8) for all the details on special host file
entries that configure nonamed for use on the Internet, and
on home machines that are occasionally connected to the
Internet.
FILES
/etc/hosts Hosts database.
SEE ALSO
ethers(5), nonamed(8), dhcpd(8), boot(8).
AUTHOR
Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)