name resolution service. It replaces the <command>nss-dns</command> plug-in module that traditionally resolves
hostnames via DNS.</para>
- <para>To activate the NSS module, add <literal>resolve</literal> to the line starting with
- <literal>hosts:</literal> in <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename>. Specifically, it is recommended to place
- <literal>resolve</literal> early in <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename>'s <literal>hosts:</literal> line (but
- after the <literal>files</literal> or <literal>mymachines</literal> entries), right before the
- <literal>dns</literal> entry if it exists, followed by <literal>[!UNAVAIL=return]</literal>, to ensure DNS queries
- are always routed via
- <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-resolved</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry> if it is
- running, but are routed to <command>nss-dns</command> if this service is not available.</para>
+ <para>To activate the NSS module, add <literal>resolve [!UNAVAIL=return]</literal> to the line starting
+ with <literal>hosts:</literal> in <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename>. Specifically, it is
+ recommended to place <literal>resolve</literal> early in <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename>'s
+ <literal>hosts:</literal> line. It should be before the <literal>files</literal> entry, since
+ <filename>systemd-resolved</filename> supports <filename>/etc/hosts</filename> internally, but with
+ caching. To the contrary, it should be after <literal>mymachines</literal>, to give hostnames given to
+ local VMs and containers precedence over names received over DNS. Finally, we recommend placing
+ <literal>dns</literal> somewhere after <literal>resolve</literal>, to fall back to
+ <command>nss-dns</command> if <filename>systemd-resolved.service</filename> is not available.</para>
<para>Note that <command>systemd-resolved</command> will synthesize DNS resource
records in a few cases, for example for <literal>localhost</literal> and the
group: compat mymachines systemd
shadow: compat
-hosts: files mymachines <command>resolve [!UNAVAIL=return]</command> dns myhostname
+hosts: mymachines <command>resolve [!UNAVAIL=return]</command> files dns myhostname
networks: files
protocols: db files