Multi-Domain Whois - what is it?

We introduced a new tool in NetScanTools Pro 10.95 called Multi-Domain Whois. It's actually something that we first put in NetScanTools LE 1.00 last month.

First, a little background: one of our longtime law enforcement customers asked for a tool that could take a base domain name like 'netscantools' and do a whois query on netscantools.com, netscantools.net, netscantools.co.uk, etc. He knew that there were online tools for finding out if the domains were registered or not, but he wanted to know the details of each registration without having to manually do a whois query on each one.

Enter Multi-Domain Whois Query. As you can see in the image above you enter the base domain name like 'netscantools' or 'netscantools-le', then you select the extensions you want to query and press Do Multi-Domain Whois. In both NetScanTools Pro and NetScanTools LE it then queries each of those you selected by appending the domain name and querying the right whois server. The results are shown in the display in NetScanTools Pro and saved in the current Case Database in NetScanTools LE. In NetScanTools Pro 10.95, you can review the results by by scrolling the results window on the whois tool page (a query separator is added for clarity). In NetScanTools LE, you click on reports and select the reports you are interested in.



To summarize, Multi-Domain Whois gives you the ability to do a bulk whois query on a number of different common domain extensions using a single input base domain name.

As with all bulk whois queries, be careful how much you use this because whois servers often have query number limits on them. Some are as low as 10 queries per 24 hours - be careful.

New DNS Speed Test Tool in NetScanTools Pro 10.95

Our good friend Phil at Ford asked us if we could provide a tool that accepted a list of DNS IPs, then test each DNS to find out how fast it could resolve a hostname or an IP address. We did it.

You can find the DNS List Speed Test tool on the DNS Tools - Advanced toolset page. Using it is pretty simple, first create a list of DNS IPv4 Addresses (hostnames can also be used but are discouraged) and save it to a text file. The list should be one IP address per line. Notepad works well for this. Then put in a hostname or an IP in the entry area, and press the DNS List Speed Test button. A File Open navigation window will open, locate and open the text file you just created. The tool will take it from there.

The output area tells you the IP of each DNS being tested, the DNS server reply code, whether or not the DNS can do recursion, and the A or PTR record that matched the input (if available). Sometimes you will see other DNS records like NS decoded if the DNS sent them to you. It also tells you the Server Response Time which is really what you are after. You can see just how fast each DNS server is with this tool.

DNS response time (latency) is most interesting part of the results and the purpose of the tool.. The DNS response time is calculated from the moment we send the packet to the moment a response is received. DNS managers like Phil who manage hundreds of DNS's can see which DNS's are having troubles by quickly looking at the response content and the DNS response time.

You can see the results in the image above.

NetScanTools Pro 10.95 USB Version Patch Ready

The USB version patch is ready. It will upgrade your NetScanTools Pro USB to 10.95. To obtain the patch, login through Help/Check for New Version. You need an active maintenance plan to have access to the upgrade.

NetScanTools Pro 10.95 Published

NetScanTools Pro 10.95 was released late in the day on Monday February 1, 2010. We've added some new tools and made numerous changes to existing tools.

New Tools
-DNS Tools - Advanced: DNS List Speed Test - this tool accepts a list of DNS IPs (hostnames are allowed, but not recommended), then it sends an identical forward or reverse resolve query to each DNS and shows the response time. It also shows the data that each DNS sends back.
-Whois: Multi-Domain Whois - this tool accepts as input a base domain name, like 'netscantools', then it appends a top level domain or secondary level domain extension like '.ca' or '.co.uk' and queries the appropriate whois server. users can select from a large number of extensions to add. The whois queries are done as a group or batch much like the current batch whois tool.
-Whois: Autonomous System Numbers are now accepted as input. Format is AS##### where # are numbers.

If you have an active maintenance plan, click on Help/Check for New Version to download this new version. If you are interested in renewing your maintenance plan or buy the software, please see our website.

Is the economy getting better? part 2

uh...maybe not.

We sent out an announcement yesterday about the release of NetScanTools Pro 10.95 and got back 13 bounced emails. I resent the announcement from an different domain just to be sure it was a real bounce and sure enough, 13 people are no longer employed since the last announcement at the beginning of November 2009.