> >5) This machine is not permanently on the net - it is connected by a PPP
> >link.  Should I put the resolver down every time I hang up the link (e.g.
> >in /etc/ppp/ip-down)?  This prevents my macintosh on the network from
> >looking even local names, since they have to use DNS.
> 
> If you become an "unofficial secondary" for the domain you're in, you'll
> always have a copy of the DNS zones that your machines live in, and DNS
> will work locally even when you're off the net.  Note that you'll need
> to do both the forward and reverse domains (in-addr.arpa) to benefit
> from this.

Actually, my understanding of resolv.conf, is that you can set the
lookup order.  On one of my machines (don't recall if it was linux, NetBSD
or something else entirely), i had the line:

hosts bind

in my resolv.conf.  So, name lookups would go to the /etc/hosts file 
_first_ then the dns bind.  I used this to speed lookup of hostnames that
I used quite often as well (I was on a slow link, and didn't have a local
nameserver running at that point :)

Cheers,

D


--
   ___________________________________________________________________________
  /Daniel Garcia/Soon to be PhD Student/Kender@hollyfeld.org /kender@esu.edu /
 /Linux  Hacker/C Programmer for Hire /#include <disclaimer>/The Answer's 42/|
,-------------+----------------------+---------------------+---------------+ |
|I wake up scared, I wake up strange, I wake up wondering if anything in my| |
|   life is ever gunna change, I wake up scared, I wake up strange, and    | /
|      everything around me stays the same...                              |/
`---------------------http://www.hollyfeld.org/~kender --------------------'