How to Find a Server Address

There are different types of servers on the Internet and the methods of locating their addresses vary. In addition, some servers contain sensitive information, are protected and trying to retrieve their IP address would be futile. While some methods used to retrieve server addresses are brutal and require one to force his way into the system, most methods are simple to undertake and require just basic knowledge of how to go about it.

Finding DNS server addresses

Click on the “Start” menu button to pop up the applications and options display.

Click on the “Run” option and this displays a pop-up command interface.

Type “cmd” in the command line provided and press the “Enter” key to display the command window prompt.

Type “ipconfig / all” at the command prompt. This will display the Local Area Network adapter with an Internet connection that shows the DNS server address.

Finding the DNS server address via the Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Click on the “Start” menu to display all the applications and options.

Double click on the Control Panel to display the icons inside.

Select the “Network Connections” icon and double click on it to open another window.

Choose the active local area connection to pop up a display option.

Right click the connection and select “Properties” to display still more options.

Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click on “Properties.”

Locate the preferred DNS server to view its IP address.

Find your Mail Server Address (SMTP)

Fire up your Outlook Express and go to the “Tools” menu.

Select “Accounts” and click on the “Mail” tab.

Select your mail account and click on the “Properties”.

Click on the “Servers” and locate the server in the appropriate field.

Alternatively, open the command prompt.

Type “nslookup” to display your DNS server name together with your IP address.

Type “set type=mx” to cause “nslookup” to return Mail Exchange (MX) records retrieved from DNS servers in the format:

Server: ns1.xxx.com Address: 192.168.1.1

Non-authoritative answer: hotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx2.hotmail.com hotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx3.hotmail.com

hotmail.com nameserver = ns1.hotmail.com hotmail.com nameserver = ns2.hotmail.com mx2.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.254.100 mx3.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.254.120 mx4.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.254.131 mx4.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.253.230 mx1.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.166.5 ns1.hotmail.com internet address = 216.200.206.25 ns2.hotmail.com internet address = 64.4.29.35

Use any of the two servers with the "MX = preference 5" option as your mail server address.