Using a DNS Client

If you ve configured your computer to communicate on the Internet, you ve already set it up as a DNS client. When you try to access another computer, you look for a database of hostnames and IP addresses.

As discussed in Chapter 21 , there are two databases of hostnames and IP addresses: /etc/ hosts and the DNS servers listed in /etc/resolv.conf . The database that your computer searches, and the order, is determined by your /etc/host.conf file, which normally includes one line: order hosts,bind . This means your computer first looks for IP addresses in /etc/hosts before searching any DNS servers listed in /etc/resolv.conf , which you can configure per the instructions in Chapter 21 .

No additional configuration is required.