host.conf problem

[Rick Stevens]

Fred Grant wrote:
> On Tue, 2005-08-30 at 20:23, Rick Stevens wrote:
> 
>>Bob McClure Jr wrote:
>>
>>>On Tue, Aug 30, 2005 at 06:24:55PM -0500, Fred Grant wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>On Mon, 2005-08-29 at 18:18, Bob McClure Jr wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>On Mon, Aug 29, 2005 at 06:06:20PM -0500, Fred Grant wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>On log-in, I periodically and sporadically get a message that the system
>>>>>>can't determine the host for Internet use.  When I check the host.conf
>>>>>>folder it is missing the "localhost.localdomain" info.
>>>>>
>>>>>That does not compute.  /etc/host.conf (a file, not a folder) normally
>>>>>contains
>>>>>
>>>>> order hosts,bind
>>>>>
>>>>>and that's all.  Perhaps you're thinking of /etc/hosts, which should
>>>>>have something like (mine as an example):
>>>>>
>>>>>127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain   localhost
>>>>>192.168.2.2     bobcat.bobcatos.com     bobcat
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>I can fix it by (as root) copying hosts.bak to this folder but it is
>>>>>>kind of a pain.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Any ideas as to why this periodically drops out?  I'm using FC2.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Thanks
>>>>>
>>>>>Cheers,
>>>>
>>>>You are right Bob, it's /etc/hosts that loses the localhost.localdomain
>>>>info.  I wonder if I could incorporate  copying of this info into the
>>>>daily cron job?  Seems funny that the info periodically gets lost.
>>>
>>>
>>>No, that's a band-aid.  Something else is wrong that needs to be fixed.
>>>
>>>Look in /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/hosts and see what
>>>it looks like.  It it's improper, fix it and see if the problem
>>>doesn't go away.
>>>
>>>No, I don't know how that gets into the game.  Rick probably does.
>>
>>Er, it could be the DHCP client requesting it from the DHCP server and
>>gronking it.  I'd have to look.
> 
> 
>>Is that something the ISP does?

Well, whoever your DHCP service is.  If you use a cable or DSL modem
via ethernet, it'd be the modem.  If you have a router betwixt the
modem and your machine, it'd probably be the router.  If you use a
direct modem via the PCI bus or serial port, it'd be your ISP.

As Bob said, check /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/hosts
and verify that it's correct.  You can then also check
/etc/dhclient-script to see if it's stomping on it.
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-                    I doubt, therefore I might be.                  -
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