49. Obtaining Information About Hosts

• nslookup utility finds

  1. IP address from host name (aka lookup)

  2. host name from an IP address (aka reversed lookup)

• whois

  • UNIX/Linux utility

  • Web service

  • Report on organization that "owns" a domain name or IP address block (license.)

  • Most critical information is the billing contact!

• traceroute/tracert

  • Finds the path to a target host.

  • Command line tools are supplemented by Sam Spade, dnsstuff.com, and so on.