StarQuest Technical Documents
"Unable to contact host" Error Using Host-Client Access for UNIX
Last Update: September 10, 1998
Product: StarQuest Client Access for UNIX
Operating System: All, most commonly SCO
Article ID: SQV00CA011
Abstract
The license management software implemented in Client Access for UNIX communicates over TCP/IP. A common licensing error which occurs reads 'Unable to contact host'. This occurs due to incorrect or incomplete entries in the /etc/hosts file.
Solution
The /etc/hosts file contains tcp/ip information for hosts on the network. Many new installations of any UNIX operating system contain incorrect entries in the /etc/hosts file. The format of this file should be as follows:
-
IPaddress Name FullyQualifiedDomainName
Many times, the entries will be duplicated:
100.100.200.2 myhost
100.100.200.2 myhost.mydomain.com
100.100.200.3 yourhost.yourdomain.com
Or, the entry may be incorrect:
100.100.200.2 myhost yourhost.yourdomain.com
This causes a conflict when tcp/ip tries to resolve a name. Make sure that the entries are correct, and not duplicated. The resulting file entries should look like this:
100.100.200.2 myhost myhost.mydomain.com
100.100.200.3 yourhost yourhost.yourdomain.com
Once this is complete, retry Client Access for Unix OS. You should now be able to get a license, resulting in correct behavior of the application.
DISCLAIMER
The information in technical documents comes without any warranty or applicability for a specific purpose. The author(s) or distributor(s) will not accept responsibility for any damage incurred directly or indirectly through use of the information contained in these documents. The instructions may need to be modified to be appropriate for the hardware and software that has been installed and configured within a particular organization. The information in technical documents should be considered only as an example and may include information from various sources, including IBM, Microsoft, and other organizations.