Populate /etc/hosts from nslookup of hostname

[Allanm]

Hi All,

I am thinking that I have seen a script on this forum which populates /etc/hosts from nslookup output. I am unable to find it.

Thanks,
Allan.

[Bob_Vance]

Don't know about exisitng script,
but here's a start with no sanity checking:


#
###
### IP to Name ###
###
IP=$1
if [ "$IP" = "" ] ; then
echo "usage: $0 "
exit 1
fi

NAME=$(nslookup $IP | grep Name: | awk '{print $2}')

if [ "$NAME" = "" ] ; then
echo IP $IP not found >&2
exit 2
else
echo "$IP $NAME"
fi



You could this in a number of ways.

## ip_to_name 172.16.0.12
172.16.0.12 manny.fepu.com


## ip_to_name 172.16.0.12 >> /tmp/new_hosts_list



Say /tmp/iplist has list of ip addresses to convert

## ( > /tmp/new_hosts_list ; > /tmp/error
cat /tmp/iplist \
|while read IP
do
ip_to_name $IP >> /tmp/new_hosts_list 2>>/tmp/error
done
)


bv

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Allan:

This would be simple enough:

# nslookup www.firefox.com|awk '{if (/^Name/) {N=$2;getline;A=$2;print A,N}}' >> /etc/hosts

This will handle multiple addresses, too, as for 'www.google.com'.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Bob_Vance]

HAHA
I don't know why I assumed that the input was an IP address !?!?
Brain fart, I guess.

Better would be:

#
H=$1
if [ "$H" = "" ] ; then
echo "usage: $0 {host_name | IP_address}"
exit 1
fi

NAME=$(nslookup $H | grep Name: | awk '{print $2}')
IP=$(nslookup $H | grep Address: | awk '{print $2}')

if [ "$NAME" = "" -o "$IP" = "" ] ; then
echo Host/IP $H not found >&2
exit 2
else
echo "$IP $NAME"
fi



bv

[Allanm]

Thanks Guys,

Another thing would be what if the host is already there with the same IP address so I want to avoid populating the hosts file then.

and also delete the same hosts if the IP address changes for it, how can I tackle that so as to avoid having two or more entries for the same host even though the IPs are different.

Thanks,
Allan.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) Allan:

> Another thing would be what if the host is already there with the same IP address so I want to avoid populating the hosts file then.

> and also delete the same hosts if the IP address changes for it, how can I tackle that so as to avoid having two or more entries for the same host even though the IPs are different.

Why do you want to maintain a local '/etc/hosts' file in the first place when DNS exists?

Further, if you would run 'nslookup' with a target like 'www.google.com' you would be rewarded with multiple addresses. What would you do in that case, since they are all valid and will be returned in a rotating order for each query.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Allanm]

Hi JRF, one of the programs times out on dns resolution, so I want to use /etc/hosts file.

Thanks,
Allan.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Allan:

> Hi JRF, one of the programs times out on dns resolution, so I want to use /etc/hosts file.

I would suggest you find the reason for that program's behavior rather than kludge up a local view of what rightly belongs in DNS. I guarantee that once you rely on a local hosts file, one day the IP address of a host will change and someone (you?) will wonder why the program can't reach its target.

Regards!

...JRF...

[James R. Ferguson]

Allan:

Were you satisfied with the answers your received?

...JRF...