Sockets Library Functions                         ethers(3SOCKET)



NAME
     ethers,     etherntoa,      etheraton,      etherntohost,
     etherhostton,  etherline - Ethernet address mapping opera-
     tions

SYNOPSIS
     cc [ flag ... ] file ... -lsocket  -lnsl  [ library ... ]
     #include 
     #include 

     char *etherntoa(const struct etheraddr *e);


     struct etheraddr *etheraton(const char *s);


     int etherntohost(char *hostname, const struct etheraddr *e);


     int etherhostton(const char *hostname, struct etheraddr *e);


     int etherline(const char *l, struct etheraddr *e, char *hostname);


DESCRIPTION
     These routines  are  useful  for  mapping  48  bit  Ethernet
     numbers  to their ASCI representations or their correspond-
     ing  host names, and vice versa.


     The function etherntoa() converts a 48 bit Ethernet  number
     pointed  to  by  e to its standard  ASCI representation; it
     returns a pointer to the  ASCI string.  The  representation
     is of the form x:x:x: x:x:x where  x is a hexadecimal number
     between 0 and ff.  The function   etheraton()  converts  an
     ASCI string in the standard representation back to a 48 bit
     Ethernet number;  the function returns  NUL if  the  string
     cannot be scanned successfully.


     The  function  etherntohost()  maps  an   Ethernet   number
     (pointed  to  by  e) to its associated hostname.  The string
     pointed to by hostname must  be  long  enough  to  hold  the
     hostname  and  a  NUL character.  The function returns zero
     upon success and  non-zero  upon  failure.   Inversely,  the
     function  etherhostton()  maps  a  hostname  string  to its
     corresponding Ethernet number;  the  function  modifies  the
     Ethernet  number  pointed to by e. The function also returns
     zero upon  success and non-zero upon failure. In order to do
     the  mapping, both these functions may lookup one or more of
     the  following  sources:  the  ethers  file,  the  NIS  maps



SunOS 5.11           Last change: 5 Apr 2004                    1






Sockets Library Functions                         ethers(3SOCKET)



     ethers.byname  and  ethers.byaddr and the NIS] table ethers.
     The sources and their lookup  order  are  specified  in  the
     /etc/nsswitch.conf file. See nsswitch.conf(4) for details.


     The function  etherline() scans a line, pointed  to  by  l,
     and sets the hostname and the Ethernet number, pointed to by
     e. The string pointed to by hostname must be long enough  to
     hold  the  hostname  and  a   NUL  character.  The function
     returns zero upon success and non-zero  upon  failure.   The
     format of the scanned line is described by  ethers(4).

FILES
     /etc/ethers           Ethernet address to hostname  database
                           or domain


     /etc/nsswitch.conf    configuration file for the  name  ser-
                           vice switch


ATRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:



     
           ATRIBUTE TYPE               ATRIBUTE VALUE       
    
     MT-Level                     MT-Safe                     
    


SEE ALSO
     ethers(4), nsswitch.conf(4), attributes(5)



















SunOS 5.11           Last change: 5 Apr 2004                    2