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Appendix: Legacy File Format
This is the legacy colon-delimited file format used up until 2011 or so. We strongly urge network liasions to migrate to the new format, which supports IPv6 addresses and allows us to add arbitrary additional fields.
hostname:ip:mxhost(,mxhost...):alias(,alias...):hw:os:mac:comment
Field descriptions (all host names should be fully qualified):
hostname
: (required) (sample: vtvm1.cc.vt.edu) See the discussion of the
required format of host names earlier in this document.
ip
: (sample: 128.173.4.1) The IP address of the host being registered.
mxhost
: the mail exchanger for THIS host. May be a list of hosts separated
by commas. (optional)
alias
: comma separated list of aliases (optional)
hw
: Hardware type. (not used)
os
: Operating system. (not used)
mac
: MAC (Ethernet) address. Use dashes and not colons for the address
(like 08-00-0b-27-5f-ed). (not used)
comment
: Use any fields you like from here out
General Notes
- No fields should include spaces until you get to the comment field
- All domain names should be fully qualified (like vtvm1.cc.vt.edu, not vtvm1)
- List hosts in numeric order by IP address
- Put records without IP addresses first in the file
- Do not include multiple zones (If you have both 128.173 addresses and 198.82 addresses, do not combine them in the same file.)
- Do not include multiple sub-domains (If you manage several departments, do not combine the data for deptx.vt.edu and depty.vt.edu.)
- Send the complete list of hosts for your department. All existing data will be replaced.
- Each record must be one line. Do not break long records over multiple lines. (Be careful that your mail program doesn't do this.)
- Do not include signatures in the mail file.
- If you are not using a particular field, be sure to include the colons out to the last field that you use.
- Do not use leading zeros in ip addresses: use 128.173.4.1, not 128.173.004.001.
- Include your sub-domain on the subject of your mail.
Sample File
Here is a short sample of what a file in the old format sent to hostmaster might look like.
# DNS data for cns.vt.edu
# (lines that begin with # are comments.)
#
# MX record for sub-domain. Most departments won't use this.
# morse will recieve mail for cns.vt.edu
cns.vt.edu::morse.cns.vt.edu
morse.cns.vt.edu:128.173.12.8
#
# A few services run on this host:
haydn.cns.vt.edu:128.173.12.9::www.cns.vt.edu,ftp.cns.vt.edu
#
# Regular hosts, just name and address
berg.cns.vt.edu:128.173.12.10
hovhaness.cns.vt.edu:128.173.12.11
cage.cns.vt.edu:128.173.12.12
schoenberg.cns.vt.edu:128.173.12.13
# End of data file`
Next: Appendix: IP Address Registry (IPR) Up: Network Liaison's Handbook Previous: Other Topics
Eric C. Landgraf 2019-05-07