[iyonix-support] Re: Host Files. Was Re: My Iyonix can not access the Internet!

In a dim and distant universe
<Marcel-1.53-0411123634-345pErr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
   Chris Evans <chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> enlightened us thusly:
> To use Host files properly would I assume require each machine to have
> their host updated on EVERY change. With normaly over a dozen computers
> on our network of OS 3.1 - 6.06 that would be a real pain.

You don't /have/ to update every other machine's hosts file.

The only up-to-date and comprehensive hosts file I have here is on my
Iyonix. 

The benefit of using a hosts file is so that you can refer to all your
machines by name. Thus, if I want to access my Risc PC here I can browse to
http://intranet rather than http://10.1.1.52 or something.

By including all your machines in a hosts file, it also helps index all
your machines and avoid duplicate IP addresses, as I can use my hosts file
as a database of my local IP addresses.

> I'm not aware of any situation yet were using a host file would have
> useful.

See above.

Another very useful purpose for hosts files is where you're hosting domains
locally but where doing a DNS lookup would fail. For instance, the DNS for
www.paulsdomain.co.uk (which is hosted on a server here) points to my
external IP address. However, resolving that inside my network ends up
pointing to my router rather than the actual server.

Thus, I can create an entry in my hosts file here to point
www.paulsdomain.co.uk to 10.1.1.41 which will ensure I can still browse
locally hosted domains, otherwise it would resolve to 80.177.103.19 and I'd
just end up with my router login page.

Thus in some circumstances, hosts files are /very/ useful.

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