<SNIP> > mark@science:~$ cat /etc/hosts > 127.0.0.1 localhost > 127.0.1.1 science > <SNIP> <SNIP I think this is relevant to DNS resolution of/with domain controllers and may depend on the AD/DC topology. The idea is to use the LAN address of the box as the first address in /etc/hosts and use 127.0.0.1 as the second address in the file. If more AD/DNS servers exist in the network, then 127.0.0.1 could be even further down the list.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2008-R2-and-2008/ff807362(v=ws.10)?redirectedfrom=MSDN I haven't over-thought this and there may be more to it, but on a pure linux environment I expect this would not be a requirement, hence the handbook approach. <SNIP> It could very well be but I have vague memories when I first started getting interested in Linux, circa 1996-97 with Redhat, that I would buy books that liberally sprinkled http://localhost or ping localhost sorts of lines in the text and examples. My undocumented (and unsupported by data) opinion is that this localhost thing has been around a long, long time - possibly longer than Linux for all I know. Check out http://acme.com I have no real admin experience with any version of Windows. Even though I wrote, published and made a tiny bit of money selling a Windows program written in Turbo Pascal in those days I didn't even have networking. Everything was passed around on floppies.
