I've been having a problem where when our vps provider decides to restart the server (running Debian 5.0.8), the server fails to remember changes to /etc/hosts.  All I need is an database alias that is used for the web applications on the server which points to 127.0.0.1 (localhost).I want it to look like this:# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts# (added automatically by netbase upgrade)::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopbackfe00::0 ip6-localnetff00::0 ip6-mcastprefixff02::1 ip6-allnodesff02::2 ip6-allroutersff02::3 ip6-allhosts127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost webservice database# Auto-generated hostname. Please do not remove this comment.XXX.XX.XXX.XX xxxxxx.net.au  xxxxxx www.xxxxxxx.net.au xxxxxxxHowever whenever there is a reboot it resets itself to:# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts# (added automatically by netbase upgrade)::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopbackfe00::0 ip6-localnetff00::0 ip6-mcastprefixff02::1 ip6-allnodesff02::2 ip6-allroutersff02::3 ip6-allhosts127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost webservice# Auto-generated hostname. Please do not remove this comment.XXX.XX.XXX.XX xxxxxx.net.au  xxxxxx www.xxxxxxx.net.au xxxxxxxwithout the database, and I have to manually change the file to get things to work.  This has been happening for awhile and has become a nuisance, but I can't seem to find a way to get changes to stick.  Anyone know what to do?
/etc/hosts in debian resets itself on reboot
debian;alias;hosts
Removing the #Auto-generated hostname line and then making the changes caused whatever was generating the host names to remember it now.  Works for me but this may not work for everyone.