.TH networks "" "" "System Administration"
.PC "Name remote networks"
.B /etc/networks
.PP
.II /etc/networks
.II gateway
The file
.B /etc/networks
names remote networks with which you can communicate,
and gives information with which your system can pass datagrams
to those networks.
.PP
.II "Network Information Control Center"
.II NIC^definition
If you wish to communicate on the Internet,
you must create this file by obtaining the official
network data base maintained by the Network Information Control Center
(nic.ddn.mil).
To this, add information about other networks not listed by NIC,
with which you may wish to communicate.
.PP
If you are not going to use the Internet, you can create your own version of
.BR /etc/networks .
Each line within
.B networks
describes one remote network, and consists of the following fields:
.IP \(bu 0.3i
The network's name.
A network name can contain any printable character other than white space,
a newline character, or the comment character `#'.
.IP \(bu
The network's Internet-protocol (IP) address, in standard dot notation.
.IP \(bu
Aliases, if any, for the network's name.
.PP
For example:
.DM
	mysubnet	127.0.1		an_alias	# a comment
.DE
.PP
If you create your own version of
.BR /etc/networks ,
be sure to set its permissions correctly.
It should be owned by the superuser
.BR root ,
and be executable.
.SH "See Also"
.Xr "Administering COHERENT," administe
.Xr "hosts," hosts
.Xr "hosts.equiv," hosts.equ
.Xr "inetd.conf," inetd.con
.Xr "protocols," protocols
.Xr "services" services
