hosts

The host file is a way for computers to assign a human language native name for a websites address.  It can be used instead of the ip address in the browser address bar.  The way a normal route is added is that the computer sends the information using the default gateway if it has no ip of its own and it discovers the ip address of things along the way.  If it finds a new one it stores it in a table.  That table is integral to the internet as a whole because it is a giant repository of ip addresses and mac addresses.  When we do not have those we have to know the ip address of the individual server we are going to.  That is where a host file is used.  It provides a way for a computer to understand something like www.carteret.edu is actually 10.10.1.81.  Hope you all have a nice day!