HOSTS(4) — Series 300 and 800 Only

NAME

hosts − host name data base

DESCRIPTION

This file associates internet addresses with official host names and aliases. This allows a user to refer to a host by a symbolic name instead of an internet address.

Note: Some services require host information to be contained in this file.

For each host a single line should be present with the following information:

<internet address> <official host name> <aliases>

If you are running the Network Services as well as the ARPA Services, an official host name consists of the first field (the node name field) of the three-field host name used by NS. Aliases are other names by which a host is known. They can substitute for the official host name in most commands. For example:

192.45.36.5 hpdxsg testhost

In this example, users can use remote login to hpdxsg by using the command:

rlogin testhost

instead of

rlogin hpdxsg

A line cannot start with a space. Items are separated by any number of blanks and/or tab characters. A ‘#’ indicates the beginning of a comment. Characters from the ‘#’ to the end of the line are not interpreted by routines which search the file. Trailing blanks or tabs are allowed at the end of a line.

For the DARPA Internet network this file is normally created from the official host data base maintained at the Network Information Control Center (NIC), although local changes may be required to bring it up to date regarding unofficial aliases and/or unknown hosts.

Network addresses are specified in the conventional internet dot notation using the inet_addr() routine from the internet address manipulation library, inet(3N). Host names can contain any printable character other than a white space, newline, or comment character.

EXAMPLES

See /etc/hosts.

DEPENDENCIES

Implemented on the Series 300 and 800 only.

AUTHOR

UCB (University of California at Berkeley)

Museum