/etc/hosts: local host line

[Pete Wyckoff]

vanw at tticluster.com said on Mon, 15 Mar 2004 08:46 -0500:
> Is it true that the "127.0.0.1 localhost nodexx" line in /etc/hosts needs
> to be first for mpiexec to work? I have an application that requires the
> network address of the node to be listed first. Is there a work-around for
> this?

I don't recall that being a requirement, but then who knows.  Does some
documentation say this is a good idea?

You do need to have an entry for localhost somewhere, though I'm not
sure if it must be first on the line.  And all the compute nodes should
be in /etc/hosts or in DNS.  These restrictions come from the way that PBS
communicates among the nodes in a job, by the way.

It's quite weird, and likely incorrect, to put a real name on the line
for 127.0.0.1, you know.  If the machine has an external network
interface, you probably want the hostname associated with the address on
that interface, not the loopback interface.

		-- Pete