"Scot L. Harris" <webid@xxxxxxxxxx> writes: > Have you checked your settings in nsswitch.conf? Believe that is > suppose to specify the search order. There should be a hosts entry that > lists files dns etc. as the desired order for checking host names. Oisin Feeley <ofeeley@xxxxxxxxx> writes: >> >> So finally to the punch line: >> >> Is there something I can put in /etc/reslov.conf that will force a >> dns query to look at my hosts file first, and go no further if it >> hits pay dirt. I don't really want to run a nameserver myself. >> Again it just seems like too much work and bs for a single user >> operation. > > If you edit /etc/nsswitch.conf and change the line > hosts: files dns > > to: > hosts: files [success=return] > > then this should work. (Actually "return" is the default and just the > line "hosts: files" should work on its own). Not to be argumentative here, but are you guys sure about this? I've tinkered with nsswitch long ago too and as I recall: hosts: files dns Is already supposed to mean that /etc/hosts is consulted first. I tried Oisins suggestions and changed it to: hosts: files [success=return] service network restart I see absolutely no difference at all. host reader.local.net1 returns: Host reader.local.net1 not found: 3(NXDOMAIN) nslookup returns: Server: 192.168.0.20 Address: 192.168.0.20#53 ** server can't find reader.local.net1: NXDOMAIN This may not be possible to do, but one of my stipulations was that lookups be forced to consult /etc/hosts. My /etc/hosts definitely has resolution for above: grep 'reader\.local\.net1' /etc/hosts 192.168.1.7 reader.local.net1 reader # rh9 Is there something else that needs to be HUPped? Or am I just barking up the wrong tree?