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Use DNS to find the public IP address a website hostname currently resolves to. On Windows, run nslookup example.com; on macOS or Linux, run dig example.com A and dig example.com AAAA. The first checks IPv4 records; the second pair checks IPv4 and IPv6. Replace example.com with the exact hostname you want to look up.
Start with the hostname, not the full URL
DNS looks up a hostname: the domain or subdomain between the protocol and the next slash. For example, from https://www.example.com/products/item?id=5, look up www.example.com. Leave out https://, the page path, query string and fragment.
Keep the exact hostname, including www or another subdomain. example.com and www.example.com can have different DNS records and resolve to different addresses.
What the lookup returns
DNS translates names people can read into network addresses. An A record maps a hostname to an IPv4 address; an AAAA record maps it to an IPv6 address. A hostname can have several records, no direct address record, or a CNAME alias that points to another hostname. Resolvers often follow aliases when answering an address query. ICANN explains DNS, and Cloudflare documents DNS record types.
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Find the IP address on Windows
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Open Command Prompt.
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Run
nslookup example.com, replacing the example with your hostname. -
Read the returned address or addresses. To query only IPv4, run
nslookup -q=A example.com; for IPv6, runnslookup -q=AAAA example.com.
Typical output shows the DNS server used, a name, and one or more address values. An answer labeled Non-authoritative answer is not an error: it generally means the response came from a recursive resolver or its cache rather than directly from the domain’s authoritative nameserver. See the nslookup.io command and output guide.
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Open Terminal.
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Query IPv4 with
dig example.com Aand IPv6 withdig example.com AAAA. -
Look in the ANSWER SECTION. For just the returned addresses, use
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If dig is unavailable on your Linux distribution, install the package provided by that distribution; package names and installation commands vary. The same dig commands are useful on macOS and Linux. nslookup.io’s guide shows the typical output location.
Use a browser-based DNS lookup
If you do not want to use a terminal, enter the hostname into a DNS lookup site and inspect its A and AAAA results. These tools provide a convenient way to copy the returned addresses:
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- Google Admin Toolbox Dig lets you enter a domain and perform a DNS lookup.
- MxToolbox DNS Lookup accepts a hostname and can list DNS records.
- nslookup.io Website to IP Lookup offers a direct website-to-IP lookup.
A command-line query is preferable when you need to choose the record type, compare resolvers or keep reproducible troubleshooting details. A browser tool is usually quicker for a one-time check.
Why a hostname can return several or changing addresses
More than one answer is not necessarily a problem. A site may publish separate IPv4 and IPv6 records, or use multiple addresses for redundancy, load balancing or a content delivery network (CDN). Geographic DNS and CDN routing can give users in different places different answers. Cloudflare notes that address records can map a hostname to one or more addresses in its record-type documentation.
DNS answers can also differ by resolver, location and time. Records change, and resolvers cache answers according to their TTL (time to live). TTL is expressed in seconds; Cloudflare gives 14,400 seconds, or 240 minutes, as an example A-record default, not a universal setting. Visibility of a change depends on the configured TTL and resolver behavior, so there is no guaranteed propagation time. See Cloudflare’s explanation of A records and TTL.
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For a useful record of a lookup, note the exact hostname, record type, resolver, date and time, and location if geographic routing may matter. A single result is a snapshot, not a permanent address for every visitor.
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Check a DNS change or compare resolver answers
A normal lookup commonly asks a recursive resolver, which may return a cached answer. To compare answers from two public resolvers, query them directly:
dig @1.1.1.1 example.com Adig @8.8.8.8 example.com A
This compares what those resolvers return; it does not establish a permanent or original server address. For a closer look at the published DNS zone, first list its nameservers with dig NS example.com, then query one of the returned authoritative nameservers: dig @ns1.example-dns-provider.com example.com A. Replace that nameserver with an actual name from your result. An authoritative query can help distinguish the zone’s current answer from a stale recursive cache. MxToolbox describes its DNS Lookup as querying the authoritative nameserver and its DNS Check as tracing delegation and querying nameservers individually.
To inspect whether a name is an alias, run dig example.com CNAME. The target is another hostname; resolving its address records can help explain the chain. Do not rely on dig example.com ANY to enumerate all DNS data: authoritative servers may limit, minimize or refuse these responses. Query the specific types you need, such as A, AAAA, CNAME or NS.
The returned IP may not be the website’s origin server
A DNS lookup tells you which public address the hostname currently resolves to. It does not necessarily identify the machine hosting the site’s application, the physical data center or the site owner. When a domain uses a reverse proxy or CDN, its public DNS answer may be an address belonging to that intermediary rather than the origin server. Cloudflare explains that its proxied records return Cloudflare IP addresses, while DNS-only records can expose an origin IP, in its guidance on exposed IP addresses. A protected origin may intentionally be concealed; a public lookup is not proof that it can or should be identified.
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Many unrelated websites can also share one IP through virtual hosting. The server uses the requested hostname, and HTTPS also relies on hostname-based certificate and routing behavior, so entering a raw IP address in a browser may show another site or an error even when the domain works.
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The lookup says NXDOMAIN or fails
Check for a typo and confirm that you queried the hostname, not a full URL. NXDOMAIN means the queried name was reported as nonexistent by the resolver; a timeout or server failure can instead indicate a resolver or network problem. Compare public resolvers with dig @1.1.1.1 example.com A and dig @8.8.8.8 example.com A. If they disagree during a recent change, obtain the nameservers with dig NS example.com and query one directly as described above.
No IPv4 address appears
Check the AAAA record as well. The hostname may be using IPv6, be an alias, or have no address record configured. A missing A answer alone does not establish that the hostname cannot resolve to an address.
The answer differs from an earlier lookup
Check whether the DNS record changed, whether you used a different resolver, and whether caching or geographic routing is affecting the response. A hostname routed through a CDN may return different public addresses by location.
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A successful DNS answer confirms name resolution, not that the site is reachable or functioning. The remaining issue may involve network connectivity, a firewall, TLS certificates or HTTPS configuration, the web server, or the application. Likewise, a raw IP opening the wrong site is not a reliable test of the hostname because servers can host many domains at the same address.
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DNS lookup, nameserver lookup and registration lookup are different
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Question |
What to check |
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What public IPv4 or IPv6 address does this hostname resolve to? |
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Which servers provide authoritative DNS for the domain? |
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ICANN Lookup/RDAP, not an address lookup |
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What hostname is associated with an IP address through reverse DNS? |
A reverse DNS |
ICANN Lookup provides registration data for domains and Internet number resources through RDAP; it is useful for registration questions, not for finding the current web-serving address. See the ICANN Lookup FAQ and lookup listing. Similarly, an NS answer identifies DNS infrastructure, not the web server.
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