Loopback IP address usage on HP-UX

[Shivkumar]

Hi,

Is it a good idea to assign loopback IP address 127.0.0.1 to any application ? In my environment it was assigned to Administration Server of an applicaton.

I was under the impression that this loopback ip is used by system itself for its own some networking stuff.

Any suggestion ??

Thanks,
Shiv

[Anshumali]

Nopes...they *can* use it so long they want to refer to the localhost. I do not see any issues with that. The adapter intercepts all loopback messages and returns them to the sending application be in ping, webserver or whatever initiated it...

More on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loopback

[vishnu.khandare · Accepted solution]

Hi Shiv,
loopback IP Address 127.0.0.1 is the reserved IP address, which is used by system for loopback.
If u check the /etc/hosts file
127.0.0.1 localhost loopback

U will get this line default.
System required this IP adress for self loopback.
this reserved IP should not be touched.

Hope this solves ur qery.
Dont forget to assign points.

Regards
Vishnu Khandare.

[Ismail Azad]

Hi Shiv,

Loopback address is at times related to troubleshooting i.e if you ping a loopback address and you are not able to do a telnet it tells you the problem is with your telnet service. The loopback address is installed with your TCP/IP stack.

For your information loopback address should never be changed and some of the other upper layer services like telnet and ftp also remotely depend on the loopback address. If you are configuring DNS you have a whole database file just for the loopback address. Do not touch it.

Regards