UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi all,

I've got a question, it's probably a basic problem, but as i'm new to unix thought i'd try this forum out.

The problem is, i'm trying to use to alias entries on the hosts file, which point to an NT IIS Server. The DNS server is a unix sun solaris. On the sun, i've filled in the hosts file with:-

<IP Address> intra.webaddress1.co.uk
<IP Address> intra.webaddress2.co.uk

Both the IP addresses are the same, as they are both alias entries for the website. The domain name for the server is webaddress1.co.uk.

On compiling the hosts file with the make command, it tells me that webaddress2.co.uk is being left out because it's not the domain name. Is there an additional file I need to update, and place some entry for webaddress2.co.uk?

Does anyone understand what i'm on about?

Can anyone help?

Thanks,

Nick

Hi Nick,

It appears you are trying to set up a Sun
box as a Domain Name Server (if I read you
correctly). First, I'm not sure what you mean
by "compiling" the hosts file since that is
just a text file used to map hostnames and IP
addresses. An error message from "make" would
not be suprising since the "hosts" file is not
a makefile.

DNS however is much more complex
than that. I would recommend you pick up a
book called "DNS and BIND", O'Reilly Publishing,
ISBN: 1-56592-512-2

It's a great book and I'm sure it will help you.

Thanks for your help. I have found a solution to my problem. I was trying to use a different domain name in the hosts file, which I could not do, as the hosts file only works with the domain the Sun box has been setup with.

I have discovered by creating a DNS table file within the /etc/name.data directory I can have URLs with different domain names.

The reason why I need to do this is that a college that I work for uses a bilingual website address, so I need two URLs that point to the same address. One in english and another in welsh.

I might well take a look at that book though.