How do I set an alias name in the hosts file?

Question

I have a production server, on which three different application are running. I need to configure aliases for that server, according to which application needs to be accessed by the user.

How do I set an alias name in the hosts file?

Solution 1

For adding a alias name to a server in the hosts file you have to make the following structure:

In the first column you have to add the IP-Address, in the second column the host-name and in the third column you have to add the desired alias-name. Any subsequent columns are alias for that host. In the example's second line the IP-Address 192.168.0.2 is for the server test.server.com and another name for it is test.

For example:

127.0.0.1       localhost            test.server.com
192.168.0.2     test.server.com      test
192.168.0.3     another.server.com   another

Solution 2

Usually, the Syntax is:

<<IP>> hostname alias1 alias2

example:

127.0.0.1 localhost lo loopback

I hope it works the same under Windows XP

Comments

[Christoph Rüegg]

Default path to hosts file on Windows XP C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

[C.Schmalzgruber]

Based on the question I assumed that the threadstarter is knowing where the hosts-file is. Nevertheless thank you for the addendum :-)

[brandstaetter]

uh, having two identical names 127.0.0.1 localhost test.server.com 192.168.0.2 test.server.com test for differnt IPs can cause headaches... I'll assume a copy&paste error there ;)

[user11222]

thank u but others not able to connect to alias name.