/etc/hosts in debian resets itself on reboot

[Tapas Mishra <mightydreams@gmail.com>]

I've been having a problem where when our vps provider decides to
restart the server (running Debian 5.0.8), the server fails to
remember changes to /etc/hosts. All I need is an database alias that
is used for the webapps on the server which points to 127.0.0.1
localhost.

I want it to look like this:

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
# (added automatically by netbase upgrade)

::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts


127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost webservice database
# Auto-generated hostname. Please do not remove this comment.
XXX.XX.XXX.XX xxxxxx.net.au  xxxxxx www.xxxxxxx.net.au xxxxxxx

Note the word database at the end of above 127.0.0.1

However whenever there is a reboot it resets itself to:

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
# (added automatically by netbase upgrade)

::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts


127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost webservice
# Auto-generated hostname. Please do not remove this comment.
XXX.XX.XXX.XX xxxxxx.net.au  xxxxxx www.xxxxxxx.net.au xxxxxxx

Note the word database missing after 127.0.0.1
without the database, and I have to manually change the file to get
things to work. This has been happening for awhile and has become a
nuisance, but I can't seem to find a way to get changes to stick.
Anyone know what to do?

-- 
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http://mightydreams.blogspot.com
Tapas