How to maintain host-name information

Data ONTAP relies on correct host-name resolution to provide basic connectivity for storage systems on the network. If you are unable to access storage system data or establish sessions, there might be problems with host-name resolution on your storage system or on a name server.

Host-name information can be maintained in one or all of the following ways in Data ONTAP:

In the /etc/hosts file on your storage system's default volume
On a Domain Name System (DNS) server
On a Network Information Service (NIS) server

If you use more than one of the above resources, the order in which they are used is determined by the /etc/nsswitch.conf file.

How the /etc/hosts file works
Data ONTAP uses the /etc/hosts file to resolve host names to IP addresses. You need to keep the /etc/hosts file up-to-date. Changes to the file take effect immediately.
Editing the /etc/hosts file with FilerView
You might want to add entries to the local /etc/hosts file if the number of entries is small.
Creating /etc/hosts from the NIS master
You can create a host file remotely and modify your storage system's NIS master to install the host file in the /etc directory. This method is useful if you have many entries in your host file.