hosts, resolv setup?

[Svante Signell <svante.signell@telia.com>]

Can someone explain to me how to set up /etc/hosts and
/etc/resolv.conf for ssh (and similar programs) _not_ to search for my
local network host names using the external nameservers in
resolv.conf? 

The local network is built up with NICs. I'm not using bind on my
debian host. It's installed on the gateway, but I dont think its
configured correctly. (Is bind really needed? In case, how to
configure bind correctly? Pointers?)

/etc/hosts:
127.0.0.1 localhost
192.160.0.1 host1.my.own.domain host1
192.160.0.2 host2.my.own.domain host2
etc ...

/etc/resolv.conf:
search my.own.domain
nameserver xxx.yyy.zzz.www # External name server 1
...

Anything else to set up?
Eg.  /etc/nsswitch.conf: 
hosts:      files nisplus nis dns

Thanks,
Svante