Next: 5.3.2.4 /etc/networks Up: 5.3.2 Configuring TCP/IP on Previous: 5.3.2.2 The networking rc

### 5.3.2.3 /etc/hosts

`/etc/hosts` contains a list of IP addresses and the hostnames that they correspond to. In general, `/etc/hosts` only contains entries for your local machine, and perhaps other ``important'' machines (such as your nameserver or gateway). Your local name server will provide address-to-name mappings for other machines on the network, transparently.

For example, if your machine is `loomer.vpizza.com` with the IP address 128.253.154.32, your `/etc/hosts` would look like:

``

    127.0.0.1               localhost
    128.253.154.32          loomer.vpizza.com loomer

If you're only using loopback, the only line in `/etc/hosts` should be for 127.0.0.1, with both `localhost` and your hostname after it.

Next: 5.3.2.4 /etc/networks Up: 5.3.2 Configuring TCP/IP on Previous: 5.3.2.2 The networking rc