Package: cloud.debian.org I setup an EC2 in AWS using the Debian 9 AMI. I pass along this user-data: cat /var/lib/cloud/instance/user-data.txt #cloud-config fqdn: foo.bar.cloud timezone: Europe/Stockholm manage_etc_hosts: false ssh_authorized_keys: - ssh-rsa AAAA...
Sure enough, /etc/hosts is not managed. But... 1) The created /etc/hosts file give confusing and conflicting information. It says: # Your system has configured 'manage_etc_hosts' as True. # As a result, if you wish for changes to this file to persist # then you will need to either # a.) make changes to the master file in /etc/cloud/templates/hosts.tmpl # b.) change or remove the value of 'manage_etc_hosts' in # /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg or cloud-config from user-data This is wrong. I have configured it as 'false'. I guess this erroneous information come from some default /etc/hosts template in your AMI. Action 1: Please make the header state "Your system has configured 'manage_etc_hosts' as False. Therefore this file is not managed by cloud-init." or something similar. 2) The created /etc/hosts file contain wrong IP information. It says: 127.0.1.1 ip-10-0-3-4.ec2.internal ip-10-0-3-4 This is wrong. My EC2 don't have this IP. In case I do use the subnet 10.0.3.0/24, this line would confuse me since I'm not the one who added it. Again, I guess this is left-overs from some default /etc/hosts template in your AMI (you probably used IP 10.0.3.4 when creating the AMI). Action 2: Please remove this line. Or actually, see 3) below. 3) Even if I set 'manage_etc_hosts: false' I would still like the installed Debian EC2 machine to get an /etc/hosts similar to a manually installed Debian machine, using netinst or CD1. That is, I don't want /etc/hosts to be *managed* over time (after reboots), but I *do* want the initial /etc/hosts to get the line 127.0.0.1 <fqdn> <hostname> 127.0.0.1 localhost ...just like the normal debian-installer would do. Action 3: If 'manage_etc_hosts' is set to "false", do a one-time write to /etc/hosts, setting the fqdn and hostname to 127.0.0.1. Only do this the first time the EC2 is booted. After that, the file is managed manually.