Guidelines for LMHOSTS

When you use a host table file, be sure to keep it up to date and organized. Use the following guidelines:

• Update the LMHOSTS file whenever a computer is changed or removed from the network.
• Because LMHOSTS files are searched one line at a time from the beginning, list remote computers in priority order, with the ones used most often at the top of the file, followed by remote systems listed in #INCLUDE statements. Finally, the #PRE keyword entries should be left for the end of the file, because these are preloaded into the cache at system startup time and are not accessed later. This increases the speed of searches for the entries used most often. Because each line is processed individually, any comment lines that you add increase the parsing time.
• Use #PRE statements to preload popular entries and servers listed in #INCLUDE statements into the local computer's name cache.