Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!apple!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!BRL.MIL!phil
From: phil@BRL.MIL (Phil Dykstra)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re:  Pilot Project: Hosts Table To Be Available Over Internet
Message-ID: <8910221903.aa15395@SPARK.BRL.MIL>
Date: 22 Oct 89 23:03:56 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 18

I used to joke that the Domain Name System was simply a way of replacing
an ever increasingly large disk file with an ever increasingly large chunk
of memory (named).  But seriously, the DNS is a necessary move to keep up
with the exponential growth of the InterNet.  Hosts that don't run it are
starting to lose more and more all the time.

However, keeping some version of a host table around, if only for user
information, is a good thing.  Sort of like the postscript debate, I can't
"grep" on the DNS, and I can't even count the number of times the DNS failed
but I could still get through by looking up and typing in dotted quads.

At BRL we run a script every night that converts our own domain tables,
along with hosts.txt, into /etc/hosts form for internal distribution.
When network problems arise and you want to traceroute or ping, that table
is indispensable.

- Phil
<phil@brl.mil>