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TCP/IP and Data Communications Administration Guide

Editing the /etc/inet/hosts File

After ensuring that PPP is installed on every machine involved in your configuration, your next task is to edit the /etc/inet/hosts files on each machine. You must add host information to the hosts database for every machine on the other end of the PPP link that the local machine needs to communicate with.

Note -

You must update /etc/inet/hosts regardless of the name service in use on the physical network. This is necessary because PPP starts before the name service daemons during the booting process.

How to Configure the Remote Machine's hosts Database

  1. Become superuser and prepare to edit the /etc/inet/hosts file.

  2. Add an entry with the IP address and host name of the PPP network interface for the dial-in server on the other end of the link.

    In Figure 9-1, nomada must have in its /etc/inet/hosts file an entry with the IP address for dial-in server nubian's PPP network interface. This is true also for the /etc/inet/hosts files for nomadb and nomadc.

  3. Add entries with the IP addresses of any machines on the dial-in server`s physical network that the remote host can remotely log in to.

    The /etc/inet/hosts file on nomadc would look like:


    # Internet host table
#
127.0.0.1         localhost      loghost
192.41.43.3       nomadc
192.41.43.10      nubian-ppp
192.41.40.20      nismaster

  4. Update the databases on the name server (if the network has one) with the host names and IP addresses of the remote hosts.

Multipoint Dial-in Server hosts Database

Multipoint dial-in servers must have a unique IP address for the PPP interface, besides the local IP address for the primary network interface. When configuring the hosts database for the dial-in server, you need to perform the following procedure.

How to Configure the Dial-In Server's hosts Database

  1. Add an entry with the IP address for the PPP interface to the /etc/inet/hosts file for the dial-in server.

    For example, the /etc/hosts file on dial-in server nubian in Figure 9-1 would have the following entries.


    # Internet host table

#
127.0.0.1           localhost	      loghost
192.41.43.10        nubian-ppp
192.41.40.45        nubian

  2. For configurations where the server's physical network does not use a name service:

    1. Add entries to the server's /etc/inet/hosts files for each remote host served.

    2. Add entries for the remote hosts to the /etc/inet/hosts files of every machine on the physical network permitted to communicate with the remote machines.

  3. Add a new network number to the dial-in server's /etc/inet/networks file for the network that consists of the server and its remote hosts.

    Refer to "Assigning a Network Number to the PPP Link" for more information.