Advanced Configuration of WebTen without DNS Service
Neil Cutcliffe
This paper describes how to use the WebTen "hosts"
file as an easy workaround when DNS is not available.
Translating Names
WebTen uses both Domain Name Service and a hosts file to
translate names to IP addresses, and vice versa. The
hosts file is consulted by WebTen before DNS is
consulted. There is no need to consult DNS if the
hosts file contains a match for the requested entry.
Advanced usage of this file includes circumstances in which
name-to-address translating is required, and DNS service is
not available. In such cases, an entry in the hosts file
can be made for each name and address pair. Advantages
gained from adding entries to this file include non-degradation
of WebTen's service in the event of a DNS failure, and
performance gains during host name lookups. Drawbacks include
the necessity to manually update the hosts file should any host
name changes occur.
Accessing the hosts file
The hosts file is located in /tenon/etc/hosts
and is configured with entries for the name and IP address
of the WebTen system, as well as the name and IP address of
the "localhost" loopback address. Additional entries may be
added to this file. Use a Macintosh
editor and follow the conventions below:
- Lines beginning with "#" are comments and are ignored.
- Blank lines are ignored.
- IP addresses go at the beginning of a line, followed by a
space-separated list of names for this IP address.
Examples
For example, a default /tenon/etc/hosts might look like:
- # /etc/hosts -- host name data base
- #
- # Hostname "localhost" is for the loopback interface 'lo0'
- 127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.yourdomain.com
- #
- 206.158.92.66 www.yourdomain.com www
Additional lines may be added:
- # New Web server in testing, soon to replace www
- 206.158.92.67 www2.yourdomain.com www2
- # Additional Virtual Host
- 206.158.92.68 info.yourdomain.com info
Page last updated 12/28/1999
http://www.tenon.com/support/webten/papers/webten-advanced-config.html