ethers(5)ethers(5)Nameethers - database that maps Ethernet addresses to hostnames
Description
The file is used in conjunction with the reverse address resolution
protocol daemon, to map Ethernet addresses to hostnames. It contains
information about the known (48-bit) Ethernet addresses of hosts on the
Internet.
For each host on an Ethernet, a single line should be present in the
file with the following information:
Ethernet-address official-host-name
Items are separated by one or more spaces or tabs. A number sign (#)
indicates the beginning of a comment that extends to the end of line.
The standard form for Ethernet addresses is:
x:x:x:x:x:x
The x is a hexadecimal number between 0 and ff, representing 1 byte.
The address bytes are always in network order.
Hostnames can contain any printable character other than a space, tab,
newline, or number sign (#).
Hostnames in the file should correspond to the hostnames in the file or
to those provided by the name service.
Examples
The following is a sample file: 08:00:20:01:e5:1c host1 #
Comments go here 08:00:20:01:d0:4c host2 # Comments go
here 08:00:20:01:e0:1d host3 # Comments go here
08:00:20:00:c2:4e host4 # Comments go here
See Alsoethers(3n), hosts(5), rarpd(8c)
Introduction to Networking and Distributed System Services
ethers(5)
