diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__hosts/man.rst b/cdist/conf/type/__hosts/man.rst
index bece7967..1ac706cb 100644
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__hosts/man.rst
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__hosts/man.rst
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ ip
     state is ``present``, this parameter is mandatory, if state is
     ``absent``, this parameter is silently ignored.
 
+alias
+    An alias for the hostname.
+    This parameter can be specified multiple times (once per alias).
+
 EXAMPLES
 --------
 
@@ -36,6 +40,8 @@ EXAMPLES
     # previously configured via __hosts.
     __hosts happy --state absent
 
+    __hosts srv1.example.com --ip 192.168.0.42 --alias srv1
+
 SEE ALSO
 --------
 
@@ -43,13 +49,14 @@ SEE ALSO
 
 AUTHORS
 -------
-
-Dmitry Bogatov <KAction@gnu.org>
+| Dmitry Bogatov <KAction@gnu.org>
+| Dennis Camera <dennis.camera--@--ssrq-sds-fds.ch>
 
 
 COPYING
 -------
 
-Copyright (C) 2015,2016 Dmitry Bogatov. Free use of this software is granted
-under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 or later
-(GPLv3+).
+Copyright \(C) 2015-2016 Dmitry Bogatov, 2019 Dennis Camera.
+You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
+Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of
+the License, or (at your option) any later version.
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__hosts/manifest b/cdist/conf/type/__hosts/manifest
index c536b83b..0d9e61f8 100755
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__hosts/manifest
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__hosts/manifest
@@ -1,29 +1,39 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
-# Copyright (C) 2015  Bogatov Dmitry <KAction@gnu.org>
 #
-# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# Copyright (C) 2015  Bogatov Dmitry <KAction@gnu.org>
+# 2019 Dennis Camera (dennis.camera at ssrq-sds-fds.ch)
+#
+# This file is part of cdist.
+#
+# cdist is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 # the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 # (at your option) any later version.
 #
-# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# cdist is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 # GNU General Public License for more details.
 #
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-set -ue
+#
 
-hostname="$__object_id"
-state="$(cat "$__object/parameter/state")"
+set -e -u
+
+hostname=$__object_id
+state=$(cat "$__object/parameter/state")
 marker="# __hosts/$hostname"
 
-set -- "__hosts/$hostname" --file /etc/hosts --state "$state"
-
-if [ "$state" = absent ] ; then
-	__line "$@" --regex "$marker"
+if [ "$state" = 'absent' ]
+then
+	set -- --regex "$marker"
 else
-	ip="$(cat "$__object/parameter/ip")"
-	__line "$@" --line "$ip $hostname $marker"
+	ip=$(cat "$__object/parameter/ip")
+	aliases=$(while read -r a; do printf '\t%s' "$a"; done <"$__object/parameter/alias")
+
+	set -- --line "$(printf '%s\t%s%s  %s' \
+		"$ip" "$hostname" "$aliases" "$marker")"
 fi
+
+__line "__hosts/$hostname" --file /etc/hosts --state "$state" "$@"
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__hosts/parameter/optional_multiple b/cdist/conf/type/__hosts/parameter/optional_multiple
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d077ed80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__hosts/parameter/optional_multiple
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+alias