Using HOSTS

Using HOSTS

Several automatic conversion systems are available to translate an IP address into a host name, and HOSTS is one of the simplest. You create a file called HOSTS, located in a particular folder or directory based on the requirements of the operating system, and enter a line in the file for every system. Here’s an example:

198.34.56.25 myserver.com #My server’s information
198.34.57.03 yourserver.com

Now comes the nasty part. You must store this ASCII file on every single workstation on your network; when you make a change, you must change the contents of the HOSTS file on every single workstation on your network. This is a simple but painful process inside a network. But what happens if you want to go outside of this network to other networks or to the Internet? The file size would be simply enormous. Fortunately, there are better solutions, as you will see in the next two sections.

Note:

 Any information entered to the right of a pound sign in a HOSTS file is ignored, so you can use this space for comments.