mapping address:port to name in hosts
 

Hello,

I'm trying to create human readable names for my_linux_box_ip:port using the hosts file. So, for example I would like:

127.0.0.1:2119 niceName1
127.0.0.1:2219 niceName2
127.0.0.1:2319 niceName3

I have tried using /etc/hosts and it won't allow ports.

Does anyone have ANY suggestions, linux related or not?

Many thanks

Jack

There is no way to do what you are looking for.

IP addresses and port numbers are two separated things and there is no way to assign a simple name to a ip:service pair.

You can assign a simple name to a ip address in /etc/hosts. e.g. 127.0.0.1 nicename.
You can assign a simple name to a port number in /etc/services, e.g. 23 telnet.

You can even assign a web address to be redirected to a ip/port (other than the default 80) using some redirect service like the one provided by dyndns.org. e.g. www.niceName1.com -> ip1:1234 and www.niceName2.com -> ip2:5678, but it works only for http service. The default destination port 80 is implied.

Thank you marozsas.