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ethers(3R)

hosts(4)

ETHERS(4)  —  Silicon Graphics

NAME

ethers − ethernet address to hostname database

SYNOPSIS

/etc/ethers

DESCRIPTION

The ethers file contains information regarding the known (48 bit) ethernet addresses of hosts on the internet.  For each host on an ethernet, a single line should be present with the following information:

ethernet address
official host name

Items are separated by any number of blanks and/or tabs.  A ‘#’ indicates the beginning of a comment extending to the end of line. 

The standard form for ethernet addresses is “x:x:x:x:x:x” where x is a hexadecimal number between 0 and ff, representing one byte.  The address bytes are always in network order.  Host names may contain any printable character other than a space, tab, newline, or comment character.  It is intended that host names in the ethers file correspond to the host names in the hosts(4) file.

The ether_line() routine from the ethernet address manipulation library, ethers(3R) may be used to scan lines of the ethers file. 

FILES

/etc/ethers

SEE ALSO

ethers(3R), hosts(4)

Version 3.6  —  December 20, 1987

Typewritten Software • bear@typewritten.org • Edmonds, WA 98026