Need some help with IP/country identification

[themoff]

Hi everyone,
I am trying to tailor pages that I deliver from my website based on whether the user is from the UK or not. I am using ASP, and am fairly happy with the programming side of things. However, I need some guidance with regard to IPs etc. I have seen this list mentioned:
[ripe.net...]
but am not quite clear how I should use it.

Say I get a visitor to my site with the IP 194.74.63.248, how can I determine from that IP that it is a visitor from the UK?

Does ASP have any kind of built-in IP resolver, so that I could find out that 194.74.63.248 = www.fasthosts.co.uk? Then life would be very simple, 'cos I could just check for .uk in any address.

TIA,

Robin

[agerhart]

there is another one at [url=http://www.ipindex.net]http://www.ipindex.net/[/url]

[DaveAtIFG]

Welome to WebmasterWorld themoff.

"by changing a setting in the metabase, IIS performs a reverse DNS lookup and returns the host name of the client connecting."

This is lifted from an MS knowledgebase article at [support.microsoft.com...] and I suspect it's close to what you need to know, perhaps if it's not exactly right, it will at least lead you to the correct info. I have no experience with IIS, most of my very limited knowledge was gained here in these forums...

If this doesn't meet your needs, I'll bring your question to our resident MS expert. Let me know...

[themoff]

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the info - I checked it out, and it sounds like what I need. Unfortunately I am hosting my site on a shared server, and don't have admin access. Bummer.

From what I understand, there are 3rd party components that can be used for resolving IPs, but again, I'm on a shared server and can't install anything, so that idea goes out the window. :-¦

So, can someone give me some pointers towards understanding how I can filter IPs to determine whether they are from the UK or not.

Many thanks, Robin

[DaveAtIFG]

Filtering by IP is always going to allow some people access that you don't want and not allow access that you do want. Using DNS will avoid much of this, not all. People often use proxy servers in other countries for examole.

On IIS, DNS lookups can be enabled for individual sites. IMHO, step one is to ask your host to enable DNS lookups for your site. Step two is consider another host. Particularly if your present host won't allow you to install and run your own scripts. Step three, consider an IP based solution which will likely be a "third party solution," a script.

[themoff]

I am thinking of moving hosts, but it will only to be another shared server (I am running a non-profit site, and don't have money to throw at it).

I am only interested in this IP filtering for the simple reason that I want to present UK visitors with UK ads, and anyone else with others - it doesn't matter if a few people see the wrong one.

So, can anyone point me towards a tutorial on understanding IPs, and how I could go about matching the numerical numbers to the two lists mentioned above, showing IP numbers for different countries.

Thanks, Robin

[DaveAtIFG]

Aha! I think I'm beginning to understand. I suspect that by shared server, you're referring to what us Yanks call a free server...

If so, it's unlikely you will be able to accomplish your custom IP based ad delivery. You WILL need some type of script to sort and redirect IPs and many free servers won't permit installing your own scripts... Some do, but finding a free server running IIS AND allowing scripts could be a serious challenge...

Presently, *nix hosting can be found in the US for $5-$10 per month. I suspect the price of IIS hosting has come down as well. Perhaps it's time to do some shopping? Can some of your ad revenue be redirected to cover these hosting costs?

[themoff]

Hi Dave,
Cheers for bearing with me. Here's the situation:
I am currently paying a company to host my domain and site. I have full use of ASP, databases, etc, etc, on an IIS 4 server, but there are other websites on that server (too many, but that's another story....).

So, I can run ASP and doing anything within it (such as obtain the numerical IP of a visitor and process it). What I can't do it edit any of the server settings, or execute an ASP script which alters any of the server settings.

Cheers, Robin

[DaveAtIFG]

Hi Robin

If you're paying for hosting, contact their support group. Ask them to configure your site for DNS lookups. My experience is that most hosts are flexible in this respect.

This [google.com] search yielded over a million pages for "ASP scripts." Perhaps you can find something that will do what you want.

I've just done a bit of research and I cannot find a specific list of UK IPs. You may need to buy or build one, not a small task. If you sample the class B addresses at [ipindex.net...] under 128, 129, and 130, you will find that many European and some UK university address blocks are sprinkled throughout. There are many more of these class B blocks to sift through... And then the class Cs... Your IP list will be massive and constantly changing, hence VERY high maintenance. Does DNS addressing begin to look more attractive to you?

[beanfeast]

Robin,

You might be interested in a service that we offer which returns the ISO 2 letter country code for any IP address or hostname (if resolvable) which is submitted to it.

Visit www.samoa.co.uk/whereis.html

(edited by: DaveAtIFG at 5:43 am (gmt) on Sep. 3, 2001

[ggrot]

This is a javascript based service, but try geobutton.com. It's powered by networldmap.com which asks users to identify their location by ip. It does a really good job, down to small towns and things.