Forum Moderators: DixonJones
I have an "extreme tracking device" on my homepage, where it shows me some IPs and some addresses that go like throne.ne.client2.attbi.com ( that is not an IP address, is it? ).
I need a tracking device which shows every IP address that has visited my website. IP addresses that go like 111.222.3.44, ( because I want to ban a user but I just couldn't get the IP address. All I have is saruman.ex.ac.uk ). Yet, I don't even own a domain and I have no idea what cgi-s are. All I know are cut and paste javascripts.
Is there any solution at all?
I have an "extreme tracking device" on my homepage, where it shows me some IPs and some addresses that go like throne.ne.client2.attbi.com ( that is not an IP address, is it? ).
Technically, no. I believe the term is: HostnameLookups and as identifiers go, just as good.
Check out this thread: [webmasterworld.com...]
I need a tracking device which shows every IP address that has visited my website. IP addresses that go like 111.222.3.44, ( because I want to ban a user but I just couldn't get the IP address. All I have is saruman.ex.ac.uk ). Yet, I don't even own a domain and I have no idea what cgi-s are. All I know are cut and paste javascripts.
In my case, I have Apache which allows to view my access_log files. Don't know how that is achieved in any other case...depends on how/what your host servers gives you as options. (I hope I said that right.)
Anyway, those log files contain everything you are asking for in this paragraph.
I am a bit puzzled by your statement that you "don't even own a domain and I have no idea what cgi-s are.". In my mind, a website is a domain of sorts. Whomever you have hosting your site should (?) provide you access to these access_log files. To that, you don't need to know anything about cgi-bins to achieve what you need in this particular case.
I believe I've also read (here at WebmasterWorld) how that may not always be the case. Maybe another, more knowledgable poster can elaborate on that particular question.
Is there any solution at all?
Probably the easiest way on a IBM based pc, is pinging thru CMD. As for Macs, dunno.
Start > Run > Type in CMD, when the black window opens - type in 'ping', one space bar, paste in the HostnameLookups term, hit 'Enter' and is a few seconds you'll have the IP Number.
Hope this helps.
Pendanticist.
Questions:
1) who is hosting your website? yourself or an ISP?
2) what server-system is running your website?
As to blocking a certain user, that can't be done with certainty.
If it's a human s/he can just go to the nearest computer cafe and - voila!
As to blocking in genereal, you'll have to have a rather high level of access to the configuration files on the web-server in order to accomplish this. AND you'll need to understand some heavy technical terms in order for it not to go completely haywire for you :)
Comments:
throne.ne.client2.attbi.com isn't an IP number/address - it's an resolved IP-address. You typically get those long curious-looking names when you resolve the IP-number of ADSL or modem subscribers. To try and backtrack you grab the last two terms - attbi.com - and do a whois; in this case, it's simply AT&T. The front part is some router/dial-up line identification used internally by AT&T and at any one time it can be assigned to anyone. If you'll complain then they'll also need the time of day for the access to determine who was assigned that particular line at that particular time.
IP-addresse always follows these lines 11.22.33.44 - that is four numbers divided by points. Each number can only be in the range 0-255, and are actually decimal representation of hexadecimal numbers 00-FF, which again are a more humane way of writing binary numbers.
cgi's are programs that run on your server - they are usually used to process forms, that means reacting to human input. This in contrast to javascript that runs in the browser on the users computer. Each of them serves it's own purpose and complement each other.
You've got four tools at your fingertips when determining who has a particular IP-address:
PING, which isn't of much help but just tells you if there's a live connection from your computer to hi/ers. And if your webserver isn't hosted on your own computer it's no help at all.
LOOKUP, that is subdivided into several categories. Which one of these that'll help you depends on the information you have and the information you want to get.
TRACEROUTE that - as the name implies - gives the route on the internet from your computer to the other computer. It can be used to determine the ISP nearest the 'offender' so you'll know whom to complain to.
WHOIS gives you the name, address, etc. of whom an IP-number or a domain name is assigned. You'll usually need to question the right whois-server to get this informaition, but the two most used are : whois.ripe.net and whois.networksolutions.com . If it's a ccTLD (uk, de, fr), the local whois host is also an option.
pedanticist -
It's perfectly possible not to have a domain name registed and yet still get you pages served. Here in Denmark, the ADSL-lines usually comes with a 10MB webhost at the ISP. These websites are then accessed like this : [home.isp.dk...] or you can choose a name instead of your subscriber number. Sometimes, you also see this construction : [yourname.home.isp.dk...] or even [yourname.isp.dk...]
Now let's take a look at your 'problem-child' - saruman.ex.ac.uk - and see what exactly we can discover about this entity. Whois gave no result on either ac.uk or ex.ac.uk when using whois.ripe.net. BUT knowing that the uk ccTLD is subdivided with co.uk, ac.uk and similiar like .com and .edu just only for uk placed entities, I did a whois on ex.ac.uk using whois.ac.uk (an educated guess:) ). And lo and behold : ex.ac.uk is the University of Exeter, so that was the first step. A traceroute on saruman.ex.ac.uk gave the IP-address 144.173.6.77 and a ping on that said it's online. A name server lookup told me that the University of Exeter is doing it's own with an external backup.
Conclusion:
This is a computer that's used by a lot of people to get on the internet.
No one person can be explicily identified as being responsible for any traffic from this computer / internet router. It's almost impossible in these situations to determine who has made trouble, as every single computer that connects to the internet through this computer looks as if it's the one and only. My guess is, they've got a private LAN on the other side with several hundred computers used by students and staff.
pedanticist -It's perfectly possible not to have a domain name registed and yet still get you pages served. Here in Denmark, the ADSL-lines usually comes with a 10MB webhost at the ISP. These websites are then accessed like this : [home.isp.dk...] or you can choose a name instead of your subscriber number. Sometimes, you also see this construction : [yourname.home.isp.dk...] or even [yourname.isp.dk...]
When the subscriber changes ISPs, the site dies and is re-born at [theirnewISP...]
In my pesonal case, I own one domain name (a dot com) and tend to think of things from that somewhat narrow perspective.
Situations like this, remind me just how faulty that thinking can be. <chuckle>
Great post, by the way.
Pendanticist.
Thanks anyway!
