UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I have a problem that when I am pinging with the IP address it is giving me whether a server is alive or not but when I am trying it with hostname it is giving unknown host

I have checked in /etc/hosts file and the IP address and hostname are both there...still the problem is there..

Can anybody help???

Sounds like it should work if the /etc/hosts has the entry and there are no syntax errors in the typed name. You may wish to post the entry for people to view.

Also, try:

nslookup hostname

where hostname is the host you have in the /etc/hosts file. This should tell you that the DNS server (the first entry) that is tried first and then you should see perhaps an entry at the bottom where your local host resolves using the /etc/hosts. Something like me typing "nslookup localhost" below:

$ nslookup localhost
Server: 68.87.72.130
Address: 68.87.72.130#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: localhost.no-ip.org
Address: 127.0.0.1

I would also your localhost entry to make sure that you are resolving using the /etc/hosts after DNS lookups fail. If localhost works and the other hostname does not, then there is some type of syntax error in your /etc/hosts.

Did you by any chance edit the /etc/hosts using a DOS/Windows text editor (very bad idea in general) ? If so, it may contain dos carriage returns and may be confusing the lookup.

Stan