[mixdup]

"just use /etc/hosts" is wild. That is effectively just going from one DNS server servicing all of your machines to having bespoke DNS servers individually running on every host. madness

[louwrentius]

Why is that madness and not amazing? Isn’t the simplicity beautiful? Managing /etc/hosts with a tool like Ansible?

[spragl]

/etc/hosts scales like a lead balloon.

For small groups of servers, with limited egress communication, it might nevertheless make sense. And then go for it, by all means. As a general replacement for DNS, not likely.

It is hard to see how Ansible should be simpler than DNS. Maybe if you have worked with Ansible and not DNS, you might think so.

[trumpdong]

You're using Ansible anyway. I think the comparison is DNS+Ansible vs just Ansible.

[bigstrat2003]

There is absolutely nothing simple about managing a hosts file across your fleet rather than DNS.

[mixdup]

Why not manage your one single DNS server with a tool like Ansible? Why fragment it and have to manage it on dozens/hundreds/thousands of endpoints instead?