Is there anyway to search a hosts clients?

For example you type hostsdomainname.com and it does a dns search and provides you with a list of domain names associated with that host?

I dont think so, why would you want to? If you want examples of sites ask the host in question, I'm sure they will provide a few.

Originally posted by Paul-ukhost
I dont think so, why would you want to? If you want examples of sites ask the host in question, I'm sure they will provide a few.

hmmm... :rolleyes: I don't think that's very logical.
A good host respects their client's privacy, so I don't think they'll give an example directly.

I know we don't :D .

What we DO do, is ask one of our clients' approval to distribute their url/e-mail address, so that potential customers can contact them.


That's what we do. :)

Originally posted by .::DefCon::.


hmmm... :rolleyes: I don't think that's very logical.
A good host respects their client's privacy, so I don't think they'll give an example directly.

I know we don't :D .

What we DO do, is ask one of our clients' approval to distribute their url/e-mail address, so that potential customers can contact them.


That's what we do. :)

Sorry I was providing a vague example; sure I would not release client’s sites without their permission.

I remeber when MattF put his HostSpy out, it did all that, but for some reason he took it down...:bawling:

Good :).
Clients usually don't appreciate it when suddenly they start getting e-mail from strangers with questions about how good their webhost is. ;)

This is obvious, but I always go through the support forums if the host has one.

There used to be a way you could telnet into rs.internic.net and get a list of all domains that were registered using a particular host. I'm not sure if you can still do it...I'll see if I can find the old instructions and post them.

Try Netcraft.com
do a 'whats that host running' search.
It does show sites hosted at the datacentre so if co-located or dedicated may not be too good.

Originally posted by .::DefCon::.

A good host respects their client's privacy, so I don't think they'll give an example directly.
[...]
What we DO do, is ask one of our clients' approval to distribute their url/e-mail address, so that potential customers can contact them.Aren't you then "giving an example directly?"

That doesn't seem to run counter to Paul's suggestion; if you email a host and ask them for examples, they may provide them. I'd assume then they're giving you as examples clients from whom they've gotten permission to do so.

Which, by the way, probably means you wouldn't get any examples of customers that have had major complaints.

Originally posted by uuallan
There used to be a way you could telnet into rs.internic.net and get a list of all domains that were registered using a particular host. I'm not sure if you can still do it...I'll see if I can find the old instructions and post them.

Okay, I found the steps I was looking for, BUT, this does not work with all registrars, so the information is incomplete, at best.


Step 1: Find the NIC of the NameServer you are interested in:


[allan@ns1 allan]$ whois -h whois.networksolutions.com 'host NS1.VBIND.COM'
[whois.networksolutions.com]

[No name] (NSM6622-HST) NS1.VBIND.COM 206.131.250.19
[No name] (NSJ6552-HST) NS1.VBIND.COM 206.131.250.19


Then do a lookup against that NIC:

[allan@ns1 allan]$ whois -h whois.networksolutions.com 'server NSJ6552-HST'
[whois.networksolutions.com]
Intalgent Technolgies, LLC (JENGINE3-DOM) JENGINE.NET
Intalgent Technolgies, LLC (JENGINE4-DOM) JENGINE.ORG
Intalgent Technologies (INTALGENT2-DOM) INTALGENT.NET
Jeffrey Gunther (INTALGENT-DOM) INTALGENT.COM


This particular command only gives you the domains registered through network solutions. Most of my domains are registered through itsyourdomain.com, and their whois server does not support this functionality. I don't have any domains registered through other registrars so I did not try it to see if it works for others.

But this should give you a start.