| 12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061626364656667686970717273747576 | <sect1 id="ch07-hosts"><title>Creating the /etc/hosts file</title><para>If a network card is to be configured, a user has to decide on theIP-address, FQDN and possible aliases for use in the /etc/hosts file. Anexample is:</para><blockquote><literallayout>	<my-IP> myhost.mydomain.org aliases</literallayout></blockquote><para>It should made sure that the IP-address is in the private networkIP-address range. Valid ranges are:</para><blockquote><literallayout>	Class Networks	A     10.0.0.0	B     172.16.0.0 through 172.31.0.0	C     192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.0</literallayout></blockquote><para>A valid IP address could be 192.168.1.1. A valid FQDN for this IP couldbe www.linuxfromscratch.org</para><para>If a user is not going to use a network card, he still needs to come up with aFQDN. This is necessary for programs like Sendmail to operate correctly (infact; Sendmail won't run when it can't determine the FQDN).</para><para>If a network card is not going to be configured, a new file<filename>/etc/hosts</filename> is created by running:</para><literallayout><userinput>cat > /etc/hosts << "EOF"</userinput># Begin /etc/hosts (no network card version)127.0.0.1 www.mydomain.com <value of HOSTNAME> localhost# End /etc/hosts (no network card version)<userinput>EOF</userinput></literallayout><para>If a network card is to be configured, a new file<filename>/etc/hosts</filename> is created containing:</para><literallayout><userinput>cat > /etc/hosts << "EOF"</userinput># Begin /etc/hosts (network card version)127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost192.168.1.1 www.mydomain.org <value of HOSTNAME># End /etc/hosts (network card version)<userinput>EOF</userinput></literallayout><para>Of course, the 192.168.1.1 and www.mydomain.org have to be changed to the users liking (or requirements if assigned an IP-address by a network/systemadministrator and this machine is planned to be connected to that network).</para></sect1>
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