You can either create an entry in /etc/hosts or as a CNAME in your DNS (but in DNS, you must type the domain name, not a single "short name" without the domain name.

Without visibility into your DNS, it's hard to tell what your problem is and if you would post the exact domain name it would be easier to help you debug and so post the FQDN and we can look it up on the Internet.

But, just to give you one example of a real server name on the Internet, like www.unix.com.

Even me, I cannot type www to get to www.unix.com unless I put an entry in my /etc/hosts file.

That is how the Internet works. DNS needs domain names. It is the "DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM".

If you want to use a short word alias, you need to use /etc/hosts. That is how the Internet works.

Code:

a_server# cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1   localhost
209.126.104.117 www.unix.com www

If I wanted to type "icecream" and to to this site, I would then have this:

Code:

a_server# cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1   localhost
209.126.104.117 www.unix.com icecream www

What am I missing here? This is how it has always worked, as far as I can remember. DNS needs domain names. If you want a short single word alias, you need an /etc/hosts file entry, or so that is how I have always done it.

Like I said, maybe I'm missing something, LOL But this is how I have always done it.... and never had a problem in big and small orgs/networks/domains.