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From: sthaug@nethelp.no
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To: grog@lemis.com
Cc: kpneal@pobox.com, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: Why not DNS (was: nfs startup - perhaps it is a problem)
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 15 Sep 1997 14:07:22 +0930"
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Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 08:12:47 +0200
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> If you have a name server, you don't need resolv.conf.
> 
> > You know exactly what "lookup file bind" does, and it does exactly
> > what you want in this situation.
> 
> It keeps your host names consistent across the local net?  It caches
> name server lookups across your slow Internet connection?
> 
> named is your friend.

Agreed. But I have a lease line connection to the Internet, I run my
own name server, I have a *lot* of experience running name servers,
and I *still* find it extremely convenient to have /etc/hosts lookups
available. Please don't remove it.

My main reasons for using lookups in 'hosts then bind' order are:

- Convenience for temporary updates. Sometimes I want to add a name
quickly, use it a little bit, and then remove it again. And there is
no reason why these names should be available on the Internet. It's
quicker to edit /etc/hosts than to edit two zone files and rehup
named.

- Assigning names to hosts in other parts of the Internet which are
not in DNS. These names will of course only be available locally, but
that's all I need.

- Likewise, it is sometimes convenient to *override* the names of
hosts which are already in the DNS but not under my control.

As far as I know, all modern Unixes have the possibility of using
several different methods for host name lookups. I see no reason why
such useful functionality which is already in FreeBSD should be
removed.

Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug@nethelp.no