Question: I added an entry to my hosts file for the development of a website.

I put a new line in `/etc/hosts`

```
xx.xx.xx.xx www.mysite.com

```

But even after a reboot when I use chrome or firefox the host name is not resolved to the IP I put in the file.

I'm running Fedora 14 x86\_64.

Answer: 
If your browser connects through a proxy, the proxy makes the name resolution, not the machine running your browser, so you'll need to put this website in the “no proxy” list.
Some linux distros also use `/etc/host.conf` to order the resolver's lookups.

The default seems to be `order bind,hosts`, which would tell your resolver to use DNS before the `hosts` database.

If you have an `/etc/host.conf` file, check the `order` statement.