OS X Lion: About search domains and name lookups
Summary
In Mac OS X, you can use search domains (configured in the Network pane of System Preferences) to help you auto-complete long host names in Safari and other applications. In OS X Lion, name lookups using search domains are completed differently than in previous versions of Mac OS X.
Products Affected
Lion Server, OS X Lion
Note: Although Safari is used in the examples below, this information applies generally to applications that access file servers or other resources on the network.