What file do you query for hostname resolution outside of the local system?
Answer: /etc/resolv.conf
Explanation/Reference:
From the man pages:
The resolver is a set of routines in the C library that provide access to the Internet Domain Name System (DNS). The resolver configuration file contains information that is read by the resolver routines the first time they are invoked by a process. The file is designed to be human readable and contains a list of keywords with values that provide various types of resolver information.