[Techtalk] ssh and name resolution

[Maria McKinley]

Conor Daly wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 09, 2008 at 04:27:24PM -0700 or thereabouts, Maria McKinley wrote:
>> I have also resolved the ssh problem, but I don't understand it. The 
>> problem was this line in nsswitch.conf:
>>
>> hosts:          files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
>>
>> when I change it to this, ssh works:
>> hosts:          files dns
>>
>> what I don't understand is why the top line works for some of my 
>> machines, but not others. Also, does it matter? What is the point of the 
>> top line?
> 
> A quick google of mdns4_minimal reveals that it's something to do with
> multicast dns (which is something I've only just heard of now...).  The
> mdns4 restricts it to IPV4 for the (common) case where IPV6 is not
> implemented.  The [NOTFOUND=return] bit somehow causes nsswitch to move on
> to the next option if mdns4_minimal fails to resolve 

or NOT. ;-) I had actually found something similar to this by googling, 
but couldn't really make heads or tails out of it.

thanks,
maria

(
> http://archives.mandrivalinux.com/cooker/2008-05/msg01066.php ).
> 
> Conor