ethers - Database that maps Ethernet addresses to hostnames
The /etc/ethers file is used in conjunction with the
reverse address resolution protocol daemon (rarpd) 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 /etc/ethers file should correspond to the
hostnames in the /etc/hosts file or to those provided by
the name service.
The following is a sample ethers 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
Commands: rarpd(8)
Files: hosts(4), packetfilter(7)
Routines: ethers(3) delim off
ethers(4)
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