performance impact of large /etc/hosts files

[Nikos Vassiliadis]

On Wednesday 12 December 2007 14:01:14 Alex Zbyslaw wrote:
> but I'm going to spend *forever* before I get all those IP addresses
> from a round-robin DNS entry to put into some ipfw table,

No, it's going to take something like 5 minutes.
At least for a 1420 lines hosts file.

> and if any of 
> those addresses also hosts the main site, I end up blocking that too.

Yes, but I doubt there is any other service on these web servers.

>
> I don't see how a firewall is appropriate for this (hosts.allow,
> likewise).  The point of the exercise is to never even contact the ad 
> host.

The point of the exercise is not that apparent to everybody.

> If I've misunderstood something about your approach, please enlighten
> me.

You misunderstood something, just because you and some people do it,
does is it make it the legitimate usage of /etc/hosts?
That's not the apparent usage of /etc/hosts to everyone.

I said I need more info, and I tried to guess what he does.
Please read the whole thread before trying to be that didactic!

Cheers,

Nikos