When a host name is being translated to an IP address, where will the operating system look first?

When a host name is being translated to an IP address, the operating system will typically look first in the /etc/hosts file. This file is used to specify static mappings of host names to IP addresses and is checked before other methods.

The order in which the operating system looks up host name resolutions may be influenced by the configuration specified in the /etc/nsswitch.conf file, which defines the order of sources for name service lookups, such as /etc/hosts, DNS, and other methods. The order can be customized in nsswitch.conf, but by default, /etc/hosts is usually the first place checked for host name resolution.