Re: TCP/IP Host table questions

Well, it depends. :-)

Prompt CHGTCPDMN and look at the option 'Host name search priority'

If that says *REMOTE then your DNS (Page down to see those) will be used FIRST and if an entry is found it will be used. If not found then the HOSTS table will be used.

If that says *LOCAL Then this HOSTS file is used first, if found, and if not then the system will query DNS Servers.

What you probably got hurt by is that somewhere you reference a host named ABC24. In the original entry that resolved to 10.1.14.170. When you changed it to ABC24.XYZ.LOCAL then ABC24 no longer exists. Problem! Remember that th Domain name in CHGTCPDMN and the Domain search list there are NOT used for HOSTS file entries, ONLY for DNS lookups.

So what you likely WANTED to do was add ABC24.XYZ.LOCAL rather than Replaceing ABC24.

NOW: BEST PRACTICE: Have the name of your system in your HOSTS table such as

10.1.1.1 YourIBMi.Yourdomain.tld
YourIBMi.

In that order.

Note that in CHGTCPDMN YourIBMi should be the Host name and Yourdomain.tld should be the Domain name.

No other entries. Let DNS do that so that when changes are made, they aren't your problem. :-) BUT even when DNS is not available your system will know who it is and services will start happily.

DrF

On 4/22/2024 3:17 PM, K Crawford wrote:

I have some questions on the TCP/IP Host table (CFGTCP > option 10 Work
with TCP/IP host table entries).
When and how is this table used?
What is its relationship to other servers?

I have an entry
10.1.14.170 ABC24
I changed it to
10.1.14.170 ABC24.XYZ.LOCAL

Before the change everything was okay but after the change had failures of
jobs. As you can guess I changed it back.

I have other IP's maped similarly.
10.1.14.128 EFG33 EFG33.XYZ.LOCAL
and these work.

I had asked some questions of my network people because the names/IPs of
some servers were changing. I was trying to make sure this table was
correct. They said I should make the change above. Obviously not.

I guess I am trying to understand this table and how to use it. If you
have a link to a document that explains it in simple terms that would be
great.

TIA