Re: hosts file format

From: Hans Forbrich <fuzzy.graybeard_at_gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:21:23 -0600
Message-ID: <4E6915B3.1020105_at_gmail.com>

In addition to the other replies - in the past I have found that the software that reads the host file can, and occasionally does, only reference the last line. Not everything uses 'bind', and custom or hand-crafted code may not follow any official rules.

Depending on the implementation, therefore somehat OS dependent, the assumption is: "IP-addr FQDN alternates" on one line. I've been horribly stung in some :Linux implementations (about 5 years ago) and ports to Solaris when using multiple lines and/or putting simple hostname before official FQDN. Mosyt distros seem to be less picky now, but ...

(No matter how confusing, I'm just glad it was created before the invention of XML)

/Hans

On 08/09/2011 8:45 AM, Niall Litchfield wrote:
> Does anyone here know if the habit of various oracle products to require the
> hosts file format to be in the form
> XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX HOSTNAME.DOMAINNAME HOSTNAME<any aliases>
>
> reflects an industry standard anywhere. I've come across a large number of
> systems now where you find lines like
>
> XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX HOSTNAME HOSTNAME.DOMAINNAME<any aliases>
> or
> XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX HOSTNAME.DOMAINNAME HOSTNAME
> XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX<alias1>
> XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX<alias2>
>
> and so on.
>
> RFC 952 (which admittedly dates from when I was still in full time
> education!) doesn't seem to specify the format oracle seems to
> prefer/require or even one line per ip address (though that seems sensible
> to me).

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Received on Thu Sep 08 2011 - 14:21:23 CDT