virtual interface ips in /etc/rc.config.d/netconf

[Shivkumar]

Hi,

I see sometime the network virtual ip entries in the /etc/rc.config.d/netconf file but they
are not defined in /etc/hosts.

In this case how their ip gets resolved to a name in case DNS server is not available.

Is it mandatory to define "ip to someservername" in /etc/hosts file also ?

Thanks,
Shiv

[A. Clay Stephenson · Accepted solution]

In a word they don't get resolved in that case. However, it is very tedious to have to update the host file on every host so it's not at all uncommon not to define hostnames in /etc/hosts. Generally, the critical entries are put in /etc/hosts and everything else relies upon DNS. You shouldn't get into a situation where no DNS servers are available; that's why you configure multiple servers. There will be some delay if the primary DNS server is down but the alternates should then be tried so while not as fast as normal -- everything still works.