NAME

hosts − host name database

DESCRIPTION

The Hosts file contains information on the known hosts on the DARPA Internet.  For each host a single line should be present with the following information (each parameter is separated by a blank):

Internet_address host_name [ alias ] ... 

Internet−address is a four-byte address.  Each byte is in decimal or hexadecimal notation and is separated by a period. 

host_name is the name of the system associated with this Internet address.  This is an arbitrary string, preferably long enough to keep hosts unique on the network.  Typically some “name space” is chosen, such as alabama, alakska, arkansas ... or washington, adams, jefferson ... 

alias is another name for the same system.  Typically, this is a shorter name (al, ak, ar ... or george, john, tom) and may not be unique across the network.  A single host can have more than one alias.  For example, the host “alaska” could have the following address and alias:

 
129.0.9.5 alaska ak

Each system’s own entry in the Hosts file should contain the alias localhost.  For example, on the system named alaska (and on this system only), the entry in the Hosts file might be
 

129.0.9.5 alaska ak localhost

SEE ALSO

lo(7), rhosts(4)

FILES

/etc/hosts

Version 2.4  —  May 08, 1986