resolv.conf - configuration file for domain name system resolver
/etc/resolv.conf
The resolver configuration file contains information that is read by the resolver routines. The file is designed to be human readable and contains a list of keywords with values that provide various types of resolver information.
The different configuration options are:
nameserver address
This specifies the Internet address (in dot notation) of a name server that the resolver
should query. Up to 3 name servers may be listed, one per keyword. If there are multiple
servers, the resolver queries them in the order listed. When a query to a name server on
the list times out, the resolver will move to the next one until it gets to the bottom of
the list. It will then restart from the top retrying all the name servers until a maximum
number of retries are made.
search domain-list
This specifies the search list for host-name lookup. The search list is normally
determined from the local domain name; by default, it begins with the local domain name,
then successive parent domains that have at least two components in their names. This may
be changed by listing the desired domain search path following the search keyword
with spaces or tabs separating the names. Most resolver queries will be attempted using
each component of the search path in turn until a match is found. Note that this process
may be slow and will generate a lot of network traffic if the servers for the listed
domains are not local, and that queries will time out if no server is available for one of
the domains.
The search list is currently limited to six domains with a total of 256 characters.
The keyword and value must appear on a single line, and the keyword (e.g. nameserver) must start the line. The value follows the keyword, separated by white space.
/etc/resolv.conf
na_setup(1)
, na_rc(5), RFC 1034, RFC 1035