Networking a NeXT machine - Step by step for non-UNIX users

Ok, this is going to be my first try to give something back to this community. Please keep in mind that I'm no native speaker so please excuse again any misunderstandable expression...

Following lines assume that:

1. user owns a black NeXT machine (made by NeXT, not simply painted black...)
2. user is using NEXTSTEP 3.3
3. user has set up "root", "me" and another user with appropiate passwords within NEXTSTEP 3.3
4. user is familiar with the usage of a router
5. user is no UNIX command line or terminal user
6. user wants to connect with a standard patch 5 ethernet cable
7. user knows how to deal with static IP adresses

Ok, here we go...

1. Get Your NeXT computer's MAC adress: while being logged in as root You can press BOTH command keys on a non-ADB keyboard along with the tilde key, this fires the NMI monitor. At the prompt just type "msg" (without quotes) and step through until You get the MAC adress of Your machine. Write it down somewhere.

2. I assume that Your NeXT machine is running without any troubles and that You can handle at least a bit the machine, the OS and it's user interface. First of all You will have to power down Your machine. Now, connect a standard patch 5 ethernet cable to Your machine (NO crossover cable!). It doesn't matter if You connect it to a switch or a multi port router but a hub MIGHT cause troubles (at least I experienced those).

3. Log into Your router via Your "normal" computer and Your browser. Look out for the interface where You can give Your network a "domain name" (most routers do have such interfaces somewhere). Choose a name that You can remember ;)

4. Within the router's interface look for something like "DHCP". There You will have to enter the IP adress You would like to assign to Your NeXT machine in ACCORDANCE to the MAC adress You've written down before - meaning: the router "discovers" the very special MAC adress of Your NeXT machine and therefor the router will provide a STATIC IP adress to this NeXT machine. As long as many routers differ a lot within their interfaces I'm not able to "show" You where to do what. Comment: I tried to assign the IP adress dynamically but for unknown reasons my NeXT machines didn't connect to my local net anymore, even not to the internet.

Ok, that's it for the router. Now NEXTSTEP...

5. Power on Your NeXT and log on as "root" (<- this is essential now). You will surely note that the boot process will take much longer while the ethernet cable is connected. Don't worry, everything will be ok. Just let it do it's job. Two times the NeXT will let You know, that something with the network is going wrong. Just ignore it and press "C" when asked for it to go on.

6. Within NEXTSTEP we're going to change the view of NEXTSTEP - this is the non-UNIX user part. To deal with UNIX commands without using the terminal You'll have to change the UNIX expert settings within the preference pane. With other words we would like to change the "standard" NEXTSTEP view from this:



to that:



7. Open the preferences pane and scroll to the very right. I know it's german language what You see but trust me, it LOOKS the same in English ;) Make the settings as shown in this picture:



Ok, first step done.

8. As "root" fire up "HostManager.app" within the "NextAdmin" directory:



9. In the menu of the HostManager.app You will notice a button called "Local...". Klick it. Following window will appear:



Watch this picture closely! The red arrow to the farmost left shows the location of that "Local.." button (just in case). Now from the left to the right, from top to down... Mark the second entry (something like "only use local domain"). You MUST provide a Hostname! Otherwise it will NOT work! You can choose whatever You want (it remembers me a bit of Windows 95 - 98) but do NOT use capitals!. Ok, the column in the middle.. Internet-adress on the top. Here You will have to enter the STATIC IP adress You have configured in Your router in accordance to the MAC adress of Your NeXT machine! NO auto configuration! The broadcast adress will configure automatically, if not, don't bother. Now the column to the right... "Netmask" demands the netmask You are using within Your router! As long as You are the only ones who will know this router configuration I can not provide any help or information to this! "Router" demands the IP adress of the router You are using.

10. Click on "Ok" (or whatever in Your language will accept the changed settings).

11. Now quit the "HostManager.app" and move over to "etc" > "hostconfig". Note: You will NOT see those files and directories if You did not follow step 6 of this tutorial!

12. Double click it (the file named "hostconfig").

13. VERIFY ALL OF THE SHOWN SETTINGS! THESE WILL AND HAVE TO DIFFER FROM THESE SHOWN IN THIS PICTURE!



14. Move over to the "etc" directory again. You will have to fire up "Edit" and will have to make a new file called

"resolv.config"

No quotes! This file is essential to make the NeXT machine able to resolve DNS entries. If this one is missing You will not be able to surf anywhere.

15. The file "resolv.config" just needs two entries:



In the first line You will have to write the name of Your Domain You have configured within Your router before IN THE EXACT WRITING AS YOU USED IN THE ROUTER! "nameserver" just wants to know the IP adress of Your router.

Save this file, log off and restart Your machine. Have fun browsing ;)

J

Any comments, corrections or whatever: please post them or write a note to me, others could need those informations!

What brand and model of router are you using?

I used to be able to connect my NeXT to the internet using a Linksys 802.11B router by following the instructions at the 'old and deleted' TjL - Cable modem hook-up page],

But that Linksys was replaced with an Apple Airport Extreme [802.11G] router.

Now - I am confused how to configure the NeXT with the Apple router.

I'm using a D-Link. I never used Apple hardware so I can not really help You in this, sorry :(

J

Quote from: "kenjay"What brand and model of router are you using?

I used to be able to connect my NeXT to the internet using a Linksys 802.11B router by following the instructions at the 'old and deleted' TjL - Cable modem hook-up page],

But that Linksys was replaced with an Apple Airport Extreme [802.11G] router.

Now - I am confused how to configure the NeXT with the Apple router.

Hi Kenjay, It should be the same procedure as that old "cable modem" file, except that your /etc/hostconfig IP should be static in the range of the new Apple router's available IP pool. You should also change the Internet Address in the hostmanager.app to the same IP you designated in /etc/hostconfig under INETADDR.
The domain in the resolv.conf can be anything unless you use domain naming in your local network. It's the nameserver IP address that needs to point to your Apple router. It will resolve DNS to what it gets from your cable modem automagically. This is worked for me to get my cubes lurching along on the interwebs. Though, I'm using a netgear .11g router.

good luck :)

Quote from: "Jenne"Save this file, log off and restart Your machine. Have fun browsing ;)  J  Any comments, corrections or whatever: please post them or write a note to me, others could need those informations!

Very thanks Jenne!! now i can surfing with all my computer (OS X + BeOS) and... DADAHHH: the NeXTstation!!!

Viele gruessen von Tessin!

Olivier

P.s. this post is effectued with my "pizza box"

Ah Ticino!

Although "Olivier"doesn't sound very Ticinese I'm very happy to see somone else around here from Switzerland and another NeXT-Machine on the internet :)

Have fun! And keep the fires off the woods down there ;)

J

Quote from: "Jenne"
Although "Olivier"doesn't sound very Ticinese
J

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Quote from: "urquidez"

Quote from: "kenjay"What brand and model of router are you using?

I used to be able to connect my NeXT to the internet using a Linksys 802.11B router by following the instructions at the 'old and deleted' TjL - Cable modem hook-up page],

But that Linksys was replaced with an Apple Airport Extreme [802.11G] router.

Now - I am confused how to configure the NeXT with the Apple router.

Hi Kenjay, It should be the same procedure as that old "cable modem" file, except that your /etc/hostconfig IP should be static in the range of the new Apple router's available IP pool. You should also change the Internet Address in the hostmanager.app to the same IP you designated in /etc/hostconfig under INETADDR.
The domain in the resolv.conf can be anything unless you use domain naming in your local network. It's the nameserver IP address that needs to point to your Apple router. It will resolve DNS to what it gets from your cable modem automagically. This is worked for me to get my cubes lurching along on the interwebs. Though, I'm using a netgear .11g router.

good luck :)

If anyone can actually get their NeXT machine on the internet following Jenne's instructions - I would like to know.

The router set-up is not the same on every router [specifically the Airport]. And he completely neglects to mention the creation of the hostname and IP set-up in netinfomanager.app

I am now 'almost' there - I now can ping my router and the other machines on my home network [and from the other machines to the NeXT] - but I still can't connect to a website. I don't know exactly why. I have tried changing the 'nameserver' addresses in the /etc/resolv.conf - from the router address [in my case 10.0.1.1] to the addresses that my ISP provides for DNS resolution.

Thanks for reading.

Hello kenjay.

Just again: I do not know Airport stations, so please do not wonder about strange looking questions and comments, but I would like to help.

There are some points to mention. the HOSTNAME is the name You will have to provide within Your NeXT-system, it is NOT the name You -> can <- configure within Your Aiport base for the -> local domain <- !

Many routers (Airport, too maybe?) offer the possibility to re-produce the primary and secondary DNS server IP, although this is not necessary in most cases. What does that mean? Every ISP offers two IP adresses for DNS resolution just as You mentioned. Now, some routers have an interface where exactly those IP adresses can be entered. Maybe it helps to enter those IP adresses in the Airport base if possible...

Have a look at picture number 5 of this tutorial. This tutorial deals with STATIC adresses provided by the router, maybe You can use dynamic IP adresses. I faced lots of troubles with dynamic IP adress assignment but maybe You won't. So in picture 5 on top of the middle row there are two radio buttons where I used the second to use the static IP adress. Just try to change it to "auto configuration".
Second possibility is to change the entry at "Netmask" from exact IP adress to "Automatic". Third possibilty is to change the "Router" from exact IP adress to "dynamic".

It could only be one of these 3 or a combination of two or all three together, just try it, but You MUST give Your NeXT-system a hostname!

For me all those dynamic or automatic configurations worked for a short time until my ISP changes the IP overnight (that damned 24 hour switching). After this point of time I always had to reboot the NeXT-system in order to access the internet.

Do You use firewall software like Netbarrier or alike? Or does the Airport offer something like "WAN ping blocking"?

J

I was just curious if it were possible to connect my Next to a XP network soley for file sharing using a switch.
Most of the instructions I come across are for connecting to the internet with a router.
What is the Next/Unix equivalent of XP's "workgroup" name.  In XP when you reference an outside server you usually express things in terms of \\server\sharedfolder ... is the host name on the Next the server name?

I've been experiment on both the XP end with its wizards and on the Next end with the settings of Local configuration of the HostManager but can't seem to get it to find each other :o

I haven't done this ( ihave it installed, but not configured) but samba should work fine on NeXT... and to access shares you can forget the hotsname and just do \\<ip addres of NeXT>\

Thats what I do at work, since I can remember ips beter than hostnames for some reason :P

First of all, let me give props to Jenne for his initiative and taking the time to make a helpful tutorial (even though the localization issue can be problematic as you have to explain the photos with words, which sort of defeats the purpose of the photos).

The procedure should work for static IPs. For dynamic IP you need to have your NeXT station use bootp (and a bootp server) or DHCP (and a DHCP server, which most harware routers/firewalls these days, including the Apple Airports, are). But DHCP isn't part of NS 3.x and you'll have to install it separately. That's why it's easier, much easier, to just use a static IP for your NeXT machine (via editing /etc/hostconfig or using the GUI HostManager.app)  and point the nameserver to the router/firewall (via /etc/resolv.conf) and let it do resolution.

Now, one thing I'd like to say, because I've been trying to use these forums for data mining (finding answers to questions/problems) and at times it gets rather hard: folks, please consult and use the existing resources first. Of course some topics are rather esoteric or really hard to find, like which ROM version supports booting from the CD-ROM directly, but other topics, like networking, or resetting the root password have been abudandly described. There is enough duplication (and remember that duplication carries error, because it's not binary like digital data)!

Like mentioned clearly by urquidez, this exact same write up has been available since 2000(!!) by TjL, in English, and with excellent detail (like adding the domain names to the NetInfo db, etc) here:

http://www.tntluoma.com/peak/
and another link, with not one, but 2 more documents about net connectivity:
http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Docs/

TjL also has the solution for the advanced topic of installing/using DHCP on NS.

Lastly, @kenjay:

If you can ping your router, you're very close indeed. If you follow the procedures described and create the file /etc/resolv.conf, and then you add the nameserver line, you can, instead of your router's IP or your ISP's DNS IPs (usually 2), use 4.2.2.2 as a DNS (it's a freely available one). Now, the important thing is that you set your router/gateway IP fields (in HostManager or /etc/hostconfig) to point to your actual router's *internal* IP (usually 10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x). Reboot once since the system won't automatically reload those files and you should be set.

Quote from: "da9000"Lastly, @kenjay:

If you can ping your router, you're very close indeed. If you follow the procedures described and create the file /etc/resolv.conf, and then you add the nameserver line, you can, instead of your router's IP or your ISP's DNS IPs (usually 2), use 4.2.2.2 as a DNS

da9000 -

Thank you so much for inspiring me to look over my settings and to re-try my connection. I am now connected to the internet on my NeXTCube [Turbo Dimension - in case anyone wanted to know] . All of my settings were correct - but I had SPELLED the file name /etc/resolve.conf incorrectly!  :cry:

Was it good for you?

Quote from: "Nightengale"Was it good for you?

:lol:

Quote from: "kenjay"
da9000 -

Thank you so much for inspiring me to look over my settings and to re-try my connection. I am now connected to the internet on my NeXTCube [Turbo Dimension - in case anyone wanted to know] . All of my settings were correct - but I had SPELLED the file name /etc/resolve.conf incorrectly!  :cry:

Glad I could help! Another NeXT on the web! :)

Quote from: "helf"I haven't done this ( ihave it installed, but not configured) but samba should work fine on NeXT... and to access shares you can forget the hotsname and just do \\<ip addres of NeXT>\

Thats what I do at work, since I can remember ips beter than hostnames for some reason :P

Thanks, helf
I got it work rather more or less now using FTP.  :P  

I should of mentioned my purpose for asking was to obtain software.  I bought my NeXT stripped of software with no disk or CD for that matter so i needed a faster way to bring in software rather than the 1.44 disks and splitting larger files up! (not to mention i had to load the compression software as well)
The Samba documention was actually very useful as it showed how to adjust your PCs network settings to connect to the next. I had tried the Novell software that happened to be on but both the NeXt and PC only had client software.  I didn't try the Microsoft Unix Services because one member said it crashes and I only have dial-up so downloading it would of taken a day.

The bad news is that I've nearly filled my NeXt's 500MB drive up.   :shock:

Quote from: "Thrax"The bad news is that I've nearly filled my NeXt's 500MB drive up.   :shock:

This is why I'm collecting almost every 2 GB SCSI HD that flips to my eyes...

J

For everyone's information, these instructions work perfectly for x86, HPPA and SPARC as well.

Another tip: if your ISPs nameservers change frequently, or you can't seem to find out what their IPs are, and your router doesn't provide some kind of DNS proxy (most do, nowadays, but not all), then just add these two lines somewhere near the top of your /etc/resolv.conf:

nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.220.220

These are the IP addresses for the OpenDNS resolvers, which work great.

All of the pictures are gone. Could you either write a text-only version or put the pictures back up?

Eric

** bump **

The pictures are still broken on this. I want to use it to setup my SPARCNeXT on my network but I can't see some of the vital info :(

Check out TjL Cable Modem instructions for setting up the system on a regular network.  Works perfectly.  Here's a link to the copy on my site:

http://kb7sqi.com/files/misc/TjLs-Cable-Modem-Howto-for-NeXTStep.pdf


There's also also a folder w/ instructions/packages in the dhcp folder as well
in the misc directory.  I post a copy of the archives so people could find it
still.  Hope that helps.  Take care.

Quote from: "kb7sqi"Check out TjL Cable Modem instructions for setting up the system on a regular network.  Works perfectly.  Here's a link to the copy on my site:

http://kb7sqi.com/files/misc/TjLs-Cable-Modem-Howto-for-NeXTStep.pdf


There's also also a folder w/ instructions/packages in the dhcp folder as well
in the misc directory.  I post a copy of the archives so people could find it
still.  Hope that helps.  Take care.

I just followed the instructions, I can ping all my internal network but i cannot ping or browse the internet

any ideas how to fix this issue

Thanks

You can ping everything? Including your gateway? How about DNS servers?

Quote from: "helf"You can ping everything? Including your gateway? How about DNS servers?

I can ping my gateway
but can't ping dns server

any ideas?

Quote from: "NeXTnewbe"

Quote from: "kb7sqi"Check out TjL Cable Modem instructions for setting up the system on a regular network.  Works perfectly.  Here's a link to the copy on my site:

http://kb7sqi.com/files/misc/TjLs-Cable-Modem-Howto-for-NeXTStep.pdf


There's also also a folder w/ instructions/packages in the dhcp folder as well
in the misc directory.  I post a copy of the archives so people could find it
still.  Hope that helps.  Take care.

I just followed the instructions, I can ping all my internal network but i cannot ping or browse the internet

any ideas how to fix this issue

Thanks

sounds like the default gateway isn't set...
what does

netstat -nr

say?  if there is no 0.0.0.0/0 route you can just add one as root....

route add 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 1

if you gateway was 192.168.1.1 .....

From what I remember the network setup tool doesn't do the gateway correctly in the /etc/hostconfig file... or was it /etc/sysconfig?

thanks

I add the default route but if I still not working

I got the following output from my netstat command
destination      gateway
127.0.0.1       127.0.0.1
default           192.168.1.254
192.168.1      192.168.1.110

where the 192.168.1 is my network and .110 y my cube

any help will be welcome

Thanks

192.168.1? That isn't a complete IP address, you are missing the last segment.

Quote from: "helf"192.168.1? That isn't a complete IP address, you are missing the last segment.

i check again and that is the output, i guess it refers to 192.168.1.0/24

huh. I've never noticed that. I'm not at home, or I'd check my NeXT out and see what it is spitting out. Have you tried the DHCP package?

Quote from: "helf"huh. I've never noticed that. I'm not at home, or I'd check my NeXT out and see what it is spitting out. Have you tried the DHCP package?

not really, I prefer to use static, as I want to configure my NeXTcube as webserver

ah, ok.

The output you provided below looks right -- well, assuming your gateway has an internal network IP address of 192.168.1.254.  I thought most gateways are configured to be 192.168.1.1 by default (isn't 254 reserved for some broadcast/multicast addressing?).

What the table is saying is that when your cube needs to talk to any other machine in your internal network (192.168.1.0/24), then it will use its 192.168.1.110 interface.  For other IP addresses (e.g., the Internet), then it could not use the other two entries and instead use the "default".

So in order to talk to, say 25.25.25.25, then it would have to go through 192.168.1.254. In order to go through to 192.168.1.254, it will use the 192.168.1 entry and use its 192.168.1.110 interface.

/Peter

Quote from: "NeXTnewbe"thanks

I add the default route but if I still not working

I got the following output from my netstat command
destination      gateway
127.0.0.1       127.0.0.1
default           192.168.1.254
192.168.1      192.168.1.110

where the 192.168.1 is my network and .110 y my cube

any help will be welcome

Thanks

oooh, that makes sense. Thanks.

ok

I can now ping any IP outside / inside my network, I also got DNS working, but now


is working  :)

thanks guys, I need now to install the web server, !!


Thanks for any advise

OK, been reading all the threads on how to get my NeXT connected to the Internet.  The goods news, is I have things far enough set-up that I can use PING in the terminal to both PING inside my network and outside my network to computers in the Internet.  Now... comes my problem where I can't browse web sites.

I have followed all the threads and the TJLs .PDF but I am confused on what exactly needs to be in my RESOLV.CONFIG file.  

The 1st issue, is the Domain name as shown in the example from the TJLs .PDF.  I DO NOT understand how to make or find my domain.  The nameserver fields I feel I am OK and have 3 entries on that.  I used 208.67.220.220 and 208.67.222.222 and 4.2.2.2.  The 1st two is what my Airport Extreme has in it to do DNS.

So, here is what the TJLs shows.
domain cable.modem.com
nameserver 123.456.789.123
nameserver 123.456.789.124
nameserver 123.456.789.125

Where and how do I create and setup this domain?  The .PDF just states it takes for granit I am using cable.modem.com and I have no clue about how to make one.

So, help me with that one please.

Here are all my settings in case you all need them.

Hostmanager.app>>Local settings
Use Local domain only
Hosename set to myhost
nothing is in NIS Domain Name so it is blank
Internet Address was manually assigned an IP by me of 10.0.1.143
Broadcast Address is 10.0.1.254 (I guess on this but must be right if I can PING outside)
Netmask 255.255.255.0
Router 10.0.1.1

My Resolv.Config is as I shown above but with NO domain as I have no clue on how to make and get that.

Also, there are more than one /etc directory but I take it I was only to make a resolv.config file in the main /etc folder in the root directory and not the other one embedded in other folder.  I think there was one in a /me folder or something if memory serves.

So, I feel SO CLOSE.  What is it I am missing here.

My Apple Airport Extreme is set to give my computers IPs by DHCP but in the case of my Cube, I just manually set them to what I show above.  Hope that is OK to do.

Please help.  I have read all the threads and I am lost on this domain issue and maybe that is where my problem is.  I can't PING www.yahoo.com but can PING outside IPs so I am about there.

tj

*On a side note, I loaded Omniweb 1.0 (that is all I have at the moment) and instead of a URL typed a specific IP for a web site I go to and it did load it (other than all the things it choked on like pictures, etc...).  But, it did take me to the site partially.  So, I am so close.... Just need that little nudge and tip to get me connected normally.

don't you mean resolv.conf?

Quote

NeXT Mach (nextcube) (ttyp0)

login: root
Last login: Sun Apr 11 22:51:30 from 10.0.1.29
nextcube:1# cat /etc/resolv.conf
search cable.rcn.com
nameserver 10.0.1.1
#nameserver 216.234.41.2
#nameserver 4.2.2.4
nextcube:2# ping www.cisco.com
PING origin-www.cisco.com: 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 72.163.4.161: icmp_seq=0. time=59. ms
^C
----origin-www.cisco.com PING Statistics----
1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip (ms)  min/avg/max = 59/59/59
nextcube:3#

Holy crab boys and girls, me little OmniWeb 1.0 has brought up a webpage and resolv.conf seems to be OK now.

So, neozeed, you were spot on.  I started it all correct, named resolv.conf, but after changing it and changing it, my little brain started saying .conf but my fingers typed .config.

So, adjusting the name to .conf and now it works.

Which still leads me to, what exact /etc folder should the file be in.  I show a number of them on my NeXT so I have this file in all 3 for now.  hehehe.

I have one on root, then one in /usr and one in /private.  My guess, I only need the one in root main directory and not these others?

Also, I guess the whole DOMAIN name in the resolv.conf file is not needed?  I only have nameservers listed on mine.

Thanks!

tj

Quote from: "neozeed"don't you mean resolv.conf?

Quote

NeXT Mach (nextcube) (ttyp0)

login: root
Last login: Sun Apr 11 22:51:30 from 10.0.1.29
nextcube:1# cat /etc/resolv.conf
search cable.rcn.com
nameserver 10.0.1.1
#nameserver 216.234.41.2
#nameserver 4.2.2.4
nextcube:2# ping www.cisco.com
PING origin-www.cisco.com: 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 72.163.4.161: icmp_seq=0. time=59. ms
^C
----origin-www.cisco.com PING Statistics----
1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip (ms)  min/avg/max = 59/59/59
nextcube:3#

Quote from: "NeXTsociety"Holy crab boys and girls, me little OmniWeb 1.0 has brought up a webpage and resolv.conf seems to be OK now.

So, neozeed, you were spot on.  I started it all correct, named resolv.conf, but after changing it and changing it, my little brain started saying .conf but my fingers typed .config.

So, adjusting the name to .conf and now it works.

Which still leads me to, what exact /etc folder should the file be in.  I show a number of them on my NeXT so I have this file in all 3 for now.  hehehe.

I have one on root, then one in /usr and one in /private.  My guess, I only need the one in root main directory and not these others?

Also, I guess the whole DOMAIN name in the resolv.conf file is not needed?  I only have nameservers listed on mine.

Thanks!

tj

Quote from: "neozeed"don't you mean resolv.conf?

Quote

NeXT Mach (nextcube) (ttyp0)

login: root
Last login: Sun Apr 11 22:51:30 from 10.0.1.29
nextcube:1# cat /etc/resolv.conf
search cable.rcn.com
nameserver 10.0.1.1
#nameserver 216.234.41.2
#nameserver 4.2.2.4
nextcube:2# ping www.cisco.com
PING origin-www.cisco.com: 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 72.163.4.161: icmp_seq=0. time=59. ms
^C
----origin-www.cisco.com PING Statistics----
1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip (ms)  min/avg/max = 59/59/59
nextcube:3#

Yeah it's got to be in /etc .... thats how the resolver works... The domain name isn't required, but a lot of people like to type in

ping bob

vs the whole

ping bob.mydomainnameisreallytoolong.com

But you've got the idea.

Welcome to the world of the internet! :D

OK, posting this from my NeXT.  My 1st NeXT forum message.  8-)

Happy to be alive on the Net with the NeXTcube!

tj