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Server List in UNIX

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by tigre_269 1 view

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Does UNIX maintain a server list? How
Ex.
Netware servers uses SAP broadcasts to announce it's presence on the network, and each server maintains a server list. NT uses WINS, master browsers, to maintain a server list. Is there a similar function with UNIX? Is there a command like Netware's slist?

I'm new to the platform, any help would be greatly appreciated.

9 replies

by insatiable

UNIX doesn't maintain a server list, but maintains a host list.
An /etc/hosts file may contain something like this, also showing an alias and assignments (lists, mailhost, loghost):

127.0.0.1 localhost
111.222.333.444 myserver.mydomain.com myserver lists mailhost loghost
111.222.333.445 myprintserver.mydomain.com myprintserver

You would find more servers referenced in the /etc/resolv.conf file, for the nameservers used by the system.

I hope that helps, at least a little!!
Melissa

by cpfeiffe

You can also go to your CDE login display and choose options > remote login > select host from list. This will give you a list of all Unix machines visible (via internal network routing) to that particular host, whether they are in a hosts file or not. Note that this only lists hosts on the same network as the machine you are at.

by charles.paterson

You may find the command "arp -a" useful. This sends an "address resolution protocol" request to all machines on the local network, and each machine responds with it's ip address, and hardware ethernet address.

If there is an entry for the responding machine in /etc/hosts, the hostname will be displayed in the output - otherwise, only the ip address is displayed (in addition to the netmask and ethernet address).

Regards,
Charles.

by cavedweller

Actually, the CDE login browser only lists machines which have the graphical dtlogin server running and are willing to manage remote logins.

The "arp -a" command lists the ethernet address of machines your machine has communicated with recentlyalong with a name, if available, otherwise their IP address (it doesn't actively query all nodes as suggested in a previous answer). Where the name comes from depends on your configuration and could be any or all of files, dns, yp(nis), nis+ or other methods.

What type of server are you looking for?

If you want a list of names and addresses try the "ls " command from within nslookup. This will get you a list of assigned names and addresses from your dns server. It won't tell you if a machine provides services (unless you can infer it from the name) or even if they are in service.

If you want to open an NT-like "network neighborhood" and browse you're out of luck.

If your installation runs automount you can generally get to any machines exported filesystems through the /net map.

by tigre_269

Thanks! I'm looking for a dynamic server list for UNIX, like in Netware(SAP, "slist") or NT(master browser, WINS). The "ls" command within nslookup, was helpful. I was able to identify all of the UNIX servers by our naming convention. Thanks again!

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