Hosts File Redirection

To redirect traffic to destination servers, modify the hosts file on the user’s computer. This redirection method is supported on Windows, MacOS, and Linux platforms, provided the user has administrator privileges on the local computer.

Modifying the hosts file on a user’s system maps a destination server to a local loopback address. When an application attempts to resolve a host name, traffic is redirected to the loopback address on which OnDemand is listening.

The below table shows a typical hosts file, with host names mapped to IP addresses, followed by a hosts file modified for use by OnDemand.

Hosts files

Typical Hosts File
	192.168.1.135 telnet.example.com telnet 192.168.1.140 mailhost.example.com mail 192.168.1.143 citrix.example.com citrix
OnDemand Hosts File
	127.0.0.1 telnet.example.com telnet 127.0.0.1 mailhost.example.com mail 127.0.0.1 citrix.example.com citrix

The OnDemand host names are mapped to the local loopback address, not the host’s IP address. For application-specific configurations, these loopback addresses would match the addresses you specify when configuring OnDemand in AMC; for more information, see Configuring OnDemand to Access Specific Applications.