This is probably basic for most of you, but I'm still learning.

I have a local web design client who wants me to redesign and host his site. Problem is, the guy who designed it disappeared, and my client has not received a bill for his hosting for months, although the site's still online.

As a result, he has no access to his email (he was never given his setup info/password), no access to ftp and he doesn't know where it's hosted.

So what's the quickest way to find out all this info? Tracert? Whois? By the way, a whois does not show who the registrar is. Shouldn't it?

Anyways, thanks for your help.

Vito

Use whois to determine who is the registrar and work from there. If he is lucky, the registrant's email will be your client's in which case you may want to transfer it to a new registrar.

Thanks for the reply. What I can't figure out is who the registrar is.

The whois gives:

-the registrant (my client),
-the admin contact (my client's name, but the email is listed as the guy who set it up and now disappeared)
-tech contact (the guy who set it up)
-nameservers

So how from that do I know who the registrar is?

Thanks.
Vito

Can you post the domain name in question?
Or, at least, PM it to those of us that ask? :)

puretapwaterdistillers.com

From DomainWhitePages.com:


Domain Name: PURETAPWATERDISTILLERS.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
Name Server: NS.NAMESV.COM
Name Server: NS2.NAMESV.COM
Updated Date: 15-nov-2001



Lats...

Thanks alot Lats! When I use the DirectNic whois, it does not show me the registrar.

Last question. In the admin contact, my client does not have access to the email listed there. How do I make changes to DNS or change registrars, or even access his account at NetworkSolutions without a password or access to the email address?

BTW, nice to talk to you again, Lats. It's been a while...

And thanks, SoftWareRevue. Got your PM.

Vito

Originally posted by vito
. . . . . my client does not have access to the email listed there. How do I make changes to DNS or change registrars, or even access his account at NetworkSolutions without a password or access to the email address?. . . . . . . . You should probably call them; and hope that you get someone knowledgeable on the phone.
The number one thing is never give up. NetSol can be very frustrating when it comes to these things. It once took me nearly three months to rescue a customers' domain name from them. But, in the end, customer got the domain back. :)

Wow, this NSI really seems to be a nightmare to deal with. It's hard to believe they can get away with being so uncooperative, and still have customers.

Thanks, everyone, I will give it a shot calling them.
[crossing fingers]We'll see what happens...[/crossing fingers]

Vito

Elosoft.com or a reseller of theirs. Although they appear to have changed to nextwebhosting.com. I would start with them as far as FTP, Email, etc.

Thanks, Incognito. Yes I already called them and they were very cooperative. They immediately faxed my client with all his account info.

Also I called NetSol, and I guess (so far) I got lucky. Within 10 minutes they emailed me the necessary forms that need to be filled out and faxed back to them in order to set my client up with full access to his account. So far so good. :D

Thanks, everyone. It's reassuring to know I've got such a great tech support team that I can depend on here at WHT.

Vito

I like BetterWhois they use tons of whois databases and get me the facts

http://www.betterwhois.com

Yup, they seem to give the same amount of info as domainwhitepages.com (as suggested by Lats). Which is better than what I've been getting from DirectNic. I've bookmarked them both. ;)

Vito