the way we run synapse at airbnb, we do just stuff everything in /etc/hosts; the code is here: https://github.com/airbnb/smartstack-cookbook/blob/fd97e20bfbf5f4

the way we run synapse at airbnb, we do just stuff everything in /etc/hosts; the code is here: https://github.com/airbnb/smartstack-cookbook/blob/fd97e20bfbf5f4fff64c32f246faca51261976bb/attributes/synapse.rb#L70-L75 https://github.com/airbnb/smartstack-cookbook/blob/fd97e20bf... you do still have to look up the port for your service, but the preferred way to address, e.g., search, is by search.synapse:1234 vs. localhost:1234 . that way, you get better introspection when errors happen, or in your logs. it also looks better in things like newrelic's 'external services' tab.