5 replies to this topic

[bwelford]

What is the easiest way to find out who is hosting a particular domain? I've been scratching my head over this for a little while.

[Grumpus]

It's not 100% accurate, but the best way I've found is to run the whois and get the IP address, then find out who owns the IP. Sometimes, the nameserver will give you a good clue, too.

G.

[Randy]

It can become a convoluted process Barry. Especially since these days many people use DNS forwarding and because co-location companies typically continue to hold title to their IP numbers, even if they're assigned to someone else who has leased a server from them.

However you can at least get close enough to at least find the upstream provider, if not the actual hosting company pretty simply.

If you'd like me to take a look just PM the URL address over to me. Or, if you want to have a look for yourself, grab something like the Webbug tool (it's a freebie). When you plug the URL address into that it'll give you the actual IP number the site is setting on. As opposed to the DNS information.

Then use any of the Whois tools available to track the IP back to its owner. This approach will at least take the possibility of the nameservers being run by someone else and get you back to who has final responsibility for the IP number. If you need a tool to do that, head on over to My Whois Tool and plug in the IP number there. I use it to track down spammers, so it'll find most of them worldwide, or at least give you address info for the NIC registry that has ultimate responsibility. But it'll do a pretty good job with either domain names or IP numbers worldwide.

[bwelford]

It can become a convoluted process Barry.  Especially since these days many people use DNS forwarding and because co-location companies typically continue to hold title to their IP numbers, even if they're assigned to someone else who has leased a server from them.

Thanks, G and R. You hit the nail on the head, Randy. I had used Webbug (an incredibly useful tool) and a Whois program, but that wasn't squaring with what I had heard from another human source. However there had been acquisitions and reassignments so nothing was where you might expect it to be.

[Ron Carnell]

If you're familiar with the players, or just want to confirm the involvement of a specific player, I usually find a traceroute as informative as anything else. Back up one or two hops from the final destination, and you'll often find an affiliation.

Here's a good, general purpose potpourri of tools: http://www.dnsstuff.com/

[McFox]

Steve Gibson's ID Serve is a useful little desktop gizmo. Does exactly what it says on the tin.

McFox