domain locator?

[force123]

sorry i'm not sure i should put it here or not
anyway ,
i wanted to know how can i find out where a domain is ?
emm i mean where "they" support they site from , for example yahoo.com , how can i find that where this domain has registered? any site site for doing such ?
i hope i could get you what i mean !

[Pitch]

Looks like what te closest thing you're after is a whois. There's plenty of sites offering whois services.

nic.com - Meta-Whois Universal WHOIS server

[robbie]

Yeah looks like your wanting a whois. I use Domain Names, Domain Name Registration and Web Hosting | Network Solutions

[force123]

hmm , the thing i wanted to figure out that i asked this question , was
sometimes a company claim that they are for example from UK , but when you check the site "source??" , you will find they are Chinese!
i don't know it is the ip or something.. i wanted a site to find this !
let's say it another way ,
imagine i have make a site , www.force123.com
how would you find which country i'm from ?

[danrok]

Originally Posted by force123

hmm , the thing i wanted to figure out that i asked this question , was
sometimes a company claim that they are for example from UK , but when you check the site "source??" , you will find they are Chinese!
i don't know it is the ip or something.. i wanted a site to find this !
let's say it another way ,
imagine i have make a site , www.force123.com
how would you find which country i'm from ?

The person or company could be in the UK, and have their site hosted on a server in the USA. So, the location of the server won't tell you much about the person who owns the website.

You can look-up the mail address of the person who registered that domain. But, they could have provided false details.

A legitimate company will be registered as a company, e.g. a Limted Liability Company. That is fairly easy to check-up on. In the UK, you can search here: WebCHeck - Select and Access Company Information

Most dodgy websites will be lacking any proper contact info, and full legal name. This is always a good give-away.

[force123]

i knew someone would tell me this ,
ok , you are completely right !
so how can i find where 'their "site" is hosted' ?

[aghastpumpkin]

The WHOIS will tell you this usually.

[dsio]

The whois information is often incomplete or inaccurate though. For example, I have about 20 domains registered with register.com, using the 'private' registration feature, which just hides all details, eg:

Administrative Contact:
Domain Discreet
ATTN: whateversite.com
P.O. Box 278
Yarmouth, NS B5A 4B2
CA
Phone: 1-902-7495331
Email: a49ca2ce0a1e67280112d15de896b0fd@domaindiscreet.co m

Technical Contact:
Domain Discreet
ATTN: whateversite.com
P.O. Box 278
Yarmouth, NS B5A 4B2
CA
Phone: 1-902-7495331
Email: a49ca2cf0a1e672800cd8b4caa8733d1@domaindiscreet.co m

I know of a further hundred or so domains, including one Vietnamese furniture manufacturer that flat out lie on their domain registration. I've done this a few times as well for domains I want to keep my distance from.

If someone is dodgey, and knows what hes doing, you will never find out unless you dig around good and hard.

[force123]

where should i go on the site ?
for example i want to know about "paiste.com"
?

[Aedan]

The whois information will provide you with details of the organisation that registered the domain (which isn't necessarily the same as the owner). The IP(s) will tell you where the servers are located (which isn't much use either).

There is no 100% way to know where a domain or it's servers actually are.

[force123]

ok ok !! tell what to do to find a 60 % way !

[Aedan]

You can use tools like DNS stuff to look up both IP and Domain name entries. You now just have to hope that the information in there is a) correct; and b) not entered by a third party.

Thing is that not many people host their own stuff any longer, so the IP lookup just tells you where the hosting company is (or their HQ is).

[dsio]

Give the US government some time to work on it and someday they might require domain registrants submit to an ankle braclet and molar extraction. Until then, accept that the people that want to con you or steal your money will nearly always have valid and correct details.

If you look on Ali Baba, you can find any rare or unique car you like, from a 1969 Lamborghini Miura, to a 2006 Bugatti Veyron, to a Ferrari Daytona Spyder, all ready to ship out, all with correct papers, legitimate business fronts, some of the companies even have extremely high quality websites, merchandise, you name it.

A handful of them are actually legitimate, and by that I mean that they are Indonesian organised crime affiliated car theives, that can doctor a vehicles history and credentials to the point where you could actually import it and register it without any authorities ever even suspecting it was a stolen car. They're professionals.

The remainder, and vast majority will steal your money at the drop of a hat, yet are equally careful when it comes to appearing genuine. These are not Nigerian 419 scammers, or hapless thieves, they have money, they have talent, and they do this on a mass scale.

Now, I suspect the reason you are asking these questions is that you're about to make a semi-significant purchase. If you are, go to the trouble of exploring payment options. You can use some payment services such as Paypal, and have your purchase insured against fraud. There are many other payment systems that have similar offers. It may cost a little extra but its worth doing if you think the company is dodgy.