hosts.deny script

[Steven J Lamb]

I am trying to create a script to block people using hosts.deny. I realize 
that I should just block everyone and then open access for those whom I know 
I trust but because of the nature of our network this is not possible. 
basically I check log files for login attempts every five minutes and block 
those that attempt to log in more than 3 times that day. this is all working 
great but my problem is this. I sometimes get log entries with the symbolic 
address instead of the ip. how do I convert these in a systematic way and 
not have a problem when I run IPs through it. I'm sure this is an easy task 
but I don't now what tool to use.

thanks for your help

Steven Lamb

FC4