Provided by:
sfs-server_0.8-0+pre20050819.1-2_i386 
NAME
sfs_hosts - Host to address mapping overriding DNS
DESCRIPTION
All SFS client software uses DNS to locate server names. This is
somewhat different from typical network utilities, which, often
depending on a configuration file such as /etc/nsswitch.conf, can
sometimes combine DNS with other techniques, such as scanning the file
/etc/hosts or querying NIS (YP) servers.
SFS relies exclusively on DNS for several reasons. First, the file
system is designed to provide a global namespace. Using /etc/hosts,
for example, it is common for a machine to have two names--for instance
hostname, and hostname.domain.com. However, were the same file system
to be available under two different self-certifying pathnames, several
things would go wrong: First, bookmarks to /sfs/@hostname,.../...
would only work on the local network. Even worse, it might be possible
to lose a file by accidentally copying it onto itself, e.g., from
/sfs/@hostname,.../... to /sfs/@hostname.domain.com,.../.... Finally,
SFS allows one to specify a TCP port number other than the default (4)
using DNS SRV records, while non-DNS mechanisms have no means of
specifying port numbers.
Though DNS is fairly ubiquitous, there are situations in which one
might like to have ‘‘internal’’ connections to SFS servers routed
differently from ‘‘external’’ ones. For example, when running SFS
servers behind a NAT box, external connections would need to be
directed to the external IP address of the NAT box, while it would be
more efficient to route internal connections directly to the internal
IP address, without going through the NAT. In such situations, often
the best solution is to set up a split DNS configuration. When split
DNS is not an option, however, the sfs_hosts mechanism will come in
handy.
sfs_hosts is a superset of the standard /etc/hosts file format, that
additionally allows one to specify a port number by appending it with a
% character at the end of the address. By default, the port number is
4. For example, the following two lines both specify that
server.domain.com is running on port 4 of IP address 10.1.1.1:
10.1.1.1 server.domain.com
10.1.1.1%4 server.domain.com
If you really want /etc/hosts to override DNS with SFS, you can always
run ln -s ../hosts /etc/sfs/sfs_hosts, but this is not recommended.
Solutions involving DNS configuration will be much more scalable and
flexible.
FILES
/etc/sfs/sfs_hosts
/usr/local/share/sfs/sfs_hosts
Host to address mapping overriding DNS
(Files in /etc/sfs supersede default versions in /usr/local/share/sfs.)
SEE ALSO
dirsearch(1), newaid(1), rex(1), sfsagent(1), sfskey(1), ssu(1),
sfs_config(5), sfs_srp_params(5), sfs_users(5), sfsauthd_config(5),
sfscd_config(5), sfsrosd_config(5), sfsrwsd_config(5), sfssd_config(5),
sfs_environ(7), funmount(8), nfsmounter(8), sfsauthd(8), sfscd(8),
sfsrosd(8), sfsrwcd(8), sfsrwsd(8), sfssd(8), vidb(8)
The full documentation for SFS is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If
the info and SFS programs are properly installed at your site, the
command info SFS should give you access to the complete manual.
For updates, documentation, and software distribution, please see the
SFS website at http://www.fs.net/.
AUTHOR
sfsdev@redlab.lcs.mit.edu