Wildcard *.local hosts to apache on OS X

apache-2.2domain-name-systemhostslocal

I would like to route all my *.local or *.dev domains to a specific IP, either the IP of my Ubuntu VM or localhost. Is this possible? Can I use the /etc/hosts file?

I am running Mac OS X Snow Leopard with Ubuntu Hardy Heron LTS – JeOS on VMware Fusion 3.

Right now I just keep making /etc/hosts records for each one and I would rather it be like wildcard DNS and let Apache handle the domains then manually entering it each time. I like the flexibility to update this when I do something odd or someone gives me a strange request but 90% of it I think would be best automated.

Best Answer

Unfortunately you can not add wildcard entries to /etc/hosts file. That being said This Article demonstrates a method that works with Tiger. Although I think launchctl is deprecated as of leopard but it may still work.

Related Solutions

Do entries in local ‘hosts’ files override both forward and reverse name lookups

Generally the hosts file will be used for both forward and reverse lookups. The preference on a Unix system this will depend on the order of entries in you nsswitch.conf file.

e.g. the line below will make the hosts file override DNS. Reversing the entries will make DNS override the hosts file.

hosts:      files dns

I am not sure if you can tune to order of preference on a windows system.

I have had a look at the source for ping in inetutils-20071127 (the version installed on my Ubuntu 9.04 box) and the source seems to enable numeric only mode if you ping an IP address rather than a hostname:

                if (inet_aton(target, &whereto.sin_addr) == 1) {
                        hostname = target;
                        if (argc == 1)
                                options |= F_NUMERIC;

This could explain why you don't get a reverse lookup when you ping your host by IP address.

Debian – Setting up a DNS name server for a mass virtual host with Bind9

Looking at the IP addresses in your resolv.conf I get the feeling that your BIND server is on 192.168.1.52. As far as I can tell, you can't specify in resolv.conf something like "for these domains, use this name server". Basically, your BIND server will never be queried. As you can see in your dig lookup (which is incorrect, it is asking for a reverse DNS entry), it tries 80.58.0.33, which I assume is your provider's DNS server.

You already set up BIND as caching nameserver by using the 'forwarders' option, so what you need to do is have only 192.168.1.52 in the client PCs as nameserver.

To see if your BIND is configured correctly, try this:

dig example.test @192.168.1.52

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Do entries in local ‘hosts’ files override both forward and reverse name lookups

Debian – Setting up a DNS name server for a mass virtual host with Bind9

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