Tom Browder (tom.browder@gmail.com) wrote:
> For my LAN hosts as well as my WLAN hosts, I have always used the
> /etc/hosts file and have never touched the default /etc/resolv.con file.
>
> I have never had any problems with connecting to any of those hosts except
> when adding a new host snd needing to get ssh installed.
This is how things were configured in the early 1980s. It works, as
long as you can maintain all of those copies of your hosts file, across
however many machines you have.
The disadvantages should be clear. Every time you add a new host,
you have to go and edit the hosts file on *every other* host, so they
all know about the new guy. Each time a host moves and gets a new IP
address, you have to edit *every* single hosts file. And so on.
I'm not arguing with you, just saying it works for me and has for many years (since I was with my former employer when we had our first LAN hookup with coax cable in 1994ish with SGI hosts mixed with Windows PCs and Redhat Linux PCs). The most hosts we ever had was about 30 and several of us shared sysadmin duties.
I've continued that way on my own private network. Gene can probably do the same.
The "real" way to do it is of course necessary for modern "real" networks with dedicated sysadmin staff members.
Best regards,
-Tom