Web Developer's Journal: LookUp Tools On The Web; The Really Useful Page

Want to look up a domain registration, an IP address, or see what software a server is running? This is the place. Start here for a Domain Name Registration Search, a Reverse DNS Lookup, Traceroute, VisualRoute, NsLookup, Server Check, Modem Speed Test or Ping.

Don't forget to Bookmark this Really Useful page
[ Be sure to bookmark the original, at http://www.webdevelopersjournal.com/lookup_tools.html -- that page will be updated; this Linux Today copy will not - LT ed. ]

Domain Registration Search

See whether a domain is available. If it's already registered, use the follow up links on the second page to find out who owns it. Many domain registration company sites offer this free service, but the one we recommend here is more thorough than most.

Registration Search

Reverse DNS Lookup

Got the IP address and want to find the domain name? This is the place.

Reverse DNS

Traceroute

Reports on the hops between routers from your machine to the destination address, including the time for the hop (measured three times) and the address of each router. You can do this on your own PC if it runs Windows 95 or above. From the Start menu choose Programs > DOS prompt. At the prompt type in tracert www.the-domain-you-want-to-look-up.com. You can do it from the Run menu too, but the results won't stay on the screen.

If you're on a network or otherwise firewalled, your PC Traceroute won't work. But you can still run Traceroutes through pages on the Web. Some secure sites reject the final stages of a Traceroute investigation.

Outgoing Traceroute from a Swiss server

Incoming Traceroute to your current address from Stanford University

List of remote Traceroute sites

VisualRoute

A neat utility that shows a combination of Traceroute, Ping and DNS information in graphical form. You can check any domain from the Datametrics server in Fairfax, Virginia, USA.

VisualRoute

NsLookup

Also referred to as a Domain Information Groper (Dig). Gives the IP address of the domain you enter

NsLookup

Dig II

A more complicated DNS investigation tool that allows a range of interrogations of Domain Name Servers.

Dig II

What's That Server Running?

Type in a domain and find out what server software and operating system are behind it.

Server Info

Modem Speed Test

Measures the speed of your connection - not its theoretical speed, but how fast it's actually running.The first site is recommended, but it's based in Ireland, so if the transatlantic link is busy you'll get false (low) results in the USA. Within Europe it usually works well. For more accurate results, repeat the test a few times.

Modem Speed - Ireland

Here's a US test page - not as good as the page above (in our humble opinion).

Modem Speed - USA

Ping

This tool fires packets at an IP address to check that it's responding. There are many security issues surrounding the use of ping and a lot of sites will not respond. Almost all Web sites offering remote Pings have withdrawn the service, but here's one that's still running - at least for now.

Remote Ping

Related Stories:

• Trinux: A Linux Security Toolkit v0.48 released(Jan 13, 1999)
• Linuxpower: Linux Networking Utilities, Part 1(Dec 30, 1998)
• Netcraft: Web Server Survey - Apache gains over a million sites in a month, reaches 60%(Mar 21, 2000)
• LinuxPR: Datametrics Systems Launches E-Business and Web Server Monitoring and Reporting Tool(Dec 17, 1999)
• Linux Answers Magazine: The Humble Ping(Nov 13, 1999)