MicrosoftHello ShrutiDave,
My name is Loic, and I would like to raise an issue related to the Linux and Windows " etc hosts" file format. While working in client support, I frequently encountered a significant problem affecting many customers: their "hosts" files were often incorrectly formatted.
This caused cloud servers to fail to communicate with one another, resulting in serious performance issues. Although each operating system has its own format and some flexibility is permitted, the examples provided by distributions such as Red Hat and Debian differ in their ordering for example: IP hostname FQDN, IP FQDN hostname ( But also Duplicate IP management) The problem is that some systems are unable to read the "etc hosts" file correctly when the structure is inconsistent.
A second issue is that the "etc hosts" file was originally designed for small networks, and with modern DNS systems it is largely unnecessary. Poor maintenance or incorrect entries can create significant disruption in system communication.
I believe the " etc hosts" file should be redefined in terms of both value and format. We are now at a moment in history where cloud platforms, AI systems, and large-scale distributed computing require very high levels of reliability, especially given the environmental and energy challenges we face.
I have already contacted some open-source community groups and standards organisations such as IEEE and IETF. My question is: Do you know how I can contact Microsoft to discuss this further? who would be a good contact providing contact to integrate our discution group with Standardisation company related to this ?
