/etc/ethers is a list of Ethernet addresses and host names and is used by the RARP daemon (rarpd) for mapping Ethernet addresses into IP addresses.

An example of the format used in the file:

Ethernet address hostname

-The Ethernet address is specified in hexadecimal and each byte in the address is seperated with a colin. -A hostname must match with a corresponding entry in the /etc/hosts files.

An example of an /etc/ethers file:

6:0:30:h:aa:c1        uranus

You can find the Ethernet address of your machine by watching the console during boot-up, using the dmesg command, or using the ifconfig command with a -a switch.