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Reverse DNS lookup

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335:: checking the domain names in the rDNS to see if they are likely from dialup users, or dynamically assigned addresses unlikely to be used by legitimate mail servers. Owners of such IP addresses typically assign them generic rDNS names such as "1-2-3-4-dynamic-ip.example.com." Some anti-spam filters assume that email that originates from such addresses is likely to be spam, and may refuse connection. 268:— i.e. multiple hostnames then resolve to a single address, and multiple hostnames will be returned for a PTR lookup for that shared address. However, DNS lookups typically occur over UDP, and since UDP has a limited message size, in extreme cases, multiple PTRs could cause a DNS response to exceed those UDP limits. 160:
and converting each octet into a decimal number. These decimal numbers are then concatenated in the order: least significant octet first (leftmost), to most significant octet last (rightmost). It is important to note that this is the reverse order to the usual dotted-decimal convention for writing
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Historically, Internet registries and Internet service providers allocated IP addresses in blocks of 256 (for Class C) or larger octet-based blocks for classes B and A. By definition, each block fell upon an octet boundary. The structure of the reverse DNS domain was based on this definition.
342:(FCrDNS) verification can create a form of authentication showing a valid relationship between the owner of a domain name and the owner of the server that has been given an IP address. While not very thorough, this validation is strong enough to often be used for 361:
System logging or monitoring tools often receive entries with the relevant devices specified only by IP addresses. To provide more human-usable data, these programs often perform a reverse lookup before writing the log, thus writing a name rather than the IP
216:, IP addresses were allocated in much smaller blocks, and hence the original design of pointer records was impractical, since autonomy of administration of smaller blocks could not be granted. RFC 2317 devised a methodology to address this problem by using 111:. Since no name server knows about all of the domain namespace, the response can never be assumed to be complete. Thus inverse queries are primarily useful for database management and debugging activities. Inverse queries are 403:
A reverse DNS lookup is a DNS query for the domain name associated with a given IP address. This accomplishes the opposite of the more-commonly-used forward DNS lookup, in which the DNS is queried to return an IP
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Although the informational RFC 1912 (Section 2.1) recommends that "every Internet-reachable host should have a name" and that "for every IP address, there should be a matching PTR record," it is not an
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uses specially-named records in the reverse DNS tree to provide hints to clients about subnet-specific service discovery domains. Less standardized usages include comments placed in
152:. In this domain, an IPv4 address is represented as a concatenated sequence of four decimal numbers, separated by dots, to which is appended the second level domain suffix 264:
While most rDNS entries only have one PTR record, DNS does not restrict the number. Multiple PTR records are used, for example, when a web server supports many
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The IQUERY message type was always "optional" and "never achieved widespread use"; it was "permanently retired" in 2002 with the adoption of
63:– the reverse of the usual "forward" DNS lookup of an IP address from a domain name. The process of reverse resolving of an IP address uses 380: 244:
in reverse order, represented as hexadecimal digits as subdomains. For example, the pointer domain name corresponding to the IPv6 address
332: 107:(TTL) are not significant. The response carries questions in the question section which identify all names possessing the query RR 276:
Record types other than PTR records may also appear in the reverse DNS tree. For example, encryption keys may be placed there for
605: 67:. rDNS involves searching domain name registry and registrar tables. The reverse DNS database of the Internet is rooted in the 87:
The modern "reverse DNS lookup" should not be confused with the now-obsolete "inverse query" (IQUERY) mechanism specified in
573: 289: 103:(RR) in the answer section of the message, with an empty question section. The owner name of the query RR and its 213: 339: 200: 27: 610: 317: 390: 285: 531: 503: 485: 8: 156:. The four decimal numbers are obtained by splitting the 32-bit IPv4 address into four 52: 523: 347: 157: 76: 513: 475: 124: 88: 36: 355: 100: 534: 488: 465: 128: 92: 325: 599: 527: 577: 281: 265: 217: 104: 56: 312:
The original use of the rDNS: network troubleshooting via tools such as
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b.a.9.8.7.6.5.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.8.b.d.0.1.0.0.2.ip6.arpa
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an acceptable method of mapping host addresses to host names; use the
518: 480: 343: 240:). An IPv6 address appears as a name in this domain as a sequence of 549:"FAQs | Deliverability, DNSBLs, Malware & reputation data" 351: 184: 548: 241: 19:"RDNS" redirects here. For nursing services in Australia, see 277: 68: 420:"RFC 1035 — Domain names - implementation and specification" 79:
requirement, and not all IP addresses have a reverse entry.
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usually cannot achieve forward validation when they use
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to identify the geophysical location of an IP address.
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For example, to do a reverse lookup of the IP address
308:The most common uses of the reverse DNS include: 271: 16:Finding a domain name associated to an IP address 597: 324:e-mail, web sites tracking users (especially on 373: 206: 320:, and the "Received:" trace header field for 433: 409: 259: 502:S. Cheshire; M. Krochmal (February 2013). 438: 436: 414: 412: 223: 176:would be looked up, and found to point to 139: 99:Inverse queries take the form of a single 517: 479: 463: 134: 598: 495: 457: 172:the PTR record for the domain name 82: 51:) is the querying technique of the 13: 212:However, with the introduction of 14: 622: 232:addresses use the special domain 148:addresses use the special domain 161:IPv4 addresses in textual form. 566: 541: 444:"RFC 3425 — Obsoleting IQUERY" 272:Records other than PTR records 214:Classless Inter-Domain Routing 21:Royal District Nursing Service 1: 606:Information retrieval systems 366: 340:forward-confirmed reverse DNS 207:Classless reverse DNS method 199:then it would be said to be 28:Reverse domain name notation 7: 505:DNS-Based Service Discovery 290:DNS-Based Service Discovery 109:which the name server knows 10: 627: 333:e-mail anti-spam technique 25: 18: 574:"reference page from AOL" 464:G. Huston (August 2005). 470:. Network Working Group 467:Deprecation of "ip6.int" 358:to forge domain records. 260:Multiple pointer records 228:Reverse DNS lookups for 191:in turn pointed back to 144:Reverse DNS lookups for 26:Not to be confused with 303: 224:IPv6 reverse resolution 140:IPv4 reverse resolution 55:(DNS) to determine the 135:Implementation details 121: 45:reverse DNS resolution 97: 580:on December 10, 2006 553:The Spamhaus Project 174:4.4.8.8.in-addr.arpa 59:associated with an 611:Domain Name System 248:2001:db8::567:89ab 71:top-level domain. 53:Domain Name System 41:reverse DNS lookup 201:forward-confirmed 77:Internet Standard 37:computer networks 618: 590: 589: 587: 585: 576:. Archived from 570: 564: 563: 561: 559: 545: 539: 538: 521: 519:10.17487/RFC6763 512:. sec. 11. 499: 493: 492: 483: 481:10.17487/RFC4159 461: 455: 454: 452: 451: 440: 431: 430: 428: 427: 416: 407: 406: 400: 398: 393:on 30 March 2019 389:. Archived from 377: 356:zombie computers 346:purposes, since 255: 250: 249: 239: 235: 197: 196: 190: 179: 175: 170: 169: 155: 151: 118: 83:Historical usage 626: 625: 621: 620: 619: 617: 616: 615: 596: 595: 594: 593: 583: 581: 572: 571: 567: 557: 555: 547: 546: 542: 500: 496: 484:. BCP 109. 462: 458: 449: 447: 446:. November 2002 442: 441: 434: 425: 423: 422:. November 1987 418: 417: 410: 396: 394: 379: 378: 374: 369: 326:Internet forums 306: 274: 262: 253: 247: 246: 237: 233: 226: 209: 194: 193: 188: 177: 173: 167: 166: 153: 149: 142: 137: 119:domain instead. 116: 101:resource record 85: 31: 24: 17: 12: 11: 5: 624: 614: 613: 608: 592: 591: 565: 540: 494: 456: 432: 408: 371: 370: 368: 365: 364: 363: 359: 336: 329: 305: 302: 273: 270: 261: 258: 225: 222: 208: 205: 141: 138: 136: 133: 84: 81: 15: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 623: 612: 609: 607: 604: 603: 601: 579: 575: 569: 554: 550: 544: 536: 533: 529: 525: 520: 515: 511: 507: 506: 498: 490: 487: 482: 477: 473: 469: 468: 460: 445: 439: 437: 421: 415: 413: 405: 392: 388: 387: 382: 381:"Reverse DNS" 376: 372: 360: 357: 353: 349: 345: 341: 337: 334: 330: 327: 323: 319: 315: 311: 310: 309: 301: 299: 295: 291: 287: 283: 279: 269: 267: 266:virtual hosts 257: 251: 243: 231: 221: 219: 218:CNAME records 215: 204: 202: 198: 186: 181: 171: 162: 159: 154:.in-addr.arpa 147: 132: 130: 126: 120: 114: 110: 106: 102: 96: 94: 90: 80: 78: 72: 70: 66: 62: 58: 54: 50: 46: 42: 38: 33: 29: 22: 582:. Retrieved 578:the original 568: 556:. Retrieved 552: 543: 504: 497: 466: 459: 448:. Retrieved 424:. Retrieved 402: 395:. Retrieved 391:the original 384: 375: 344:whitelisting 307: 275: 263: 245: 236:(previously 227: 210: 192: 182: 165: 163: 150:in-addr.arpa 143: 122: 117:in-addr.arpa 112: 108: 105:time to live 98: 86: 73: 48: 44: 40: 34: 32: 298:LOC records 294:TXT records 65:PTR records 57:domain name 600:Categories 450:2017-12-28 426:2017-12-28 386:Cloudflare 367:References 314:traceroute 189:dns.google 178:dns.google 61:IP address 528:2070-1721 404:address. 362:address. 352:phishers 348:spammers 234:ip6.arpa 185:A record 584:May 28, 558:May 28, 397:25 July 328:), etc. 242:nibbles 238:ip6.int 195:8.8.4.4 183:If the 168:8.8.4.4 526:  158:octets 127:  91:  278:IPsec 69:.arpa 586:2024 560:2024 535:6763 524:ISSN 510:IETF 489:4159 472:IETF 399:2019 350:and 331:One 322:SMTP 318:ping 304:Uses 296:and 284:and 230:IPv6 187:for 146:IPv4 129:3425 93:1035 49:rDNS 39:, a 532:RFC 514:doi 486:RFC 476:doi 286:IKE 282:SSH 252:is 125:RFC 113:not 89:RFC 43:or 35:In 602:: 551:. 530:. 522:. 508:. 474:. 435:^ 411:^ 401:. 383:. 338:A 316:, 288:. 280:, 256:. 220:. 203:. 180:. 131:. 95:: 588:. 562:. 537:. 516:: 491:. 478:: 453:. 429:. 47:( 30:. 23:.

Index

Royal District Nursing Service
Reverse domain name notation
computer networks
Domain Name System
domain name
IP address
PTR records
.arpa
Internet Standard
RFC
1035
resource record
time to live
RFC
3425
IPv4
octets
A record
forward-confirmed
Classless Inter-Domain Routing
CNAME records
IPv6
nibbles
virtual hosts
IPsec
SSH
IKE
DNS-Based Service Discovery
TXT records
LOC records

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