ethers(4)							   File Formats 							 ethers(4)

NAME

       ethers - Ethernet address to hostname database or domain

DESCRIPTION

       The  ethers  file  is  a local source of information about the (48-bit) Ethernet addresses of hosts on the Internet. The ethers file can be
       used in conjunction with or instead of other ethers sources, including the NIS maps ethers.byname and ethers.byaddr, the NIS+ table ethers,
       or Ethernet address data stored on an LDAP server. Programs use the ethers(3SOCKET) routines to access this information.

       The ethers file has one line for each host on an Ethernet. The line has the following format:

	      Ethernet-address official-host-name

       Items are separated by any number of SPACE and/or TAB characters. A `#' indicates the beginning of a comment extending to the end of line.

       The  standard  form  for  Ethernet  addresses is "x:x:x:x:x:x" where x is a hexadecimal number between 0 and ff, representing one byte. The
       address bytes are always in network order. Host names may contain any printable character other than SPACE, TAB, NEWLINE, or comment  char-
       acter.

FILES

       /etc/ethers

SEE ALSO

       ethers(3SOCKET), hosts(4), nsswitch.conf(4)

SunOS 5.10							    22 Jul 2004 							 ethers(4)