.TH ETHERS 5 "2008\-10\-03" "net\-tools" "Linux System Administrator's Manual"
.SH NAME
ethers \- Ethernet address to IP number database
.SH DESCRIPTION
\fB/etc/ethers\fP contains 48 bit Ethernet addresses and their corresponding
IP numbers, one line for each IP number:
.sp
.RS
\fIEthernet\-address\fP  \fIIP\-number\fP
.RE
.sp
The two items are separated by any number of SPACE and/or TAB characters.
A \fB#\fP at the beginning of a line starts a comment
which extends to the end of the line.  The \fIEthernet\-address\fP is
written as
.IR x : x : x : x : x : x ,
where \fIx\fP is a hexadecimal number between \fB0\fP and \fBff\fP
which represents one byte of the address, which is in network byte
order (big-endian).  The \fIIP\-number\fP may be a hostname which
can be resolved by DNS or a dot separated number.
.SH EXAMPLES
08:00:20:00:61:CA  pal
.SH FILES
/etc/ethers
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR arp (8),
.BR rarp (8)