Dns

DNS servers resolve host names to IP addresses. With the System.Net namespace in the .NET Framework, we easily perform this task.

A useful method

The Dns.GetHostAddresses method converts a host name to its available IP addresses. An array of IPAddress instances is returned.

An example

Please add the System.Net namespace to the top of your program. We use a host name and pass it to the Dns.GetHostAddresses method. This returns an array of IPAddress classes.

Tip We use the foreach-loop to enumerate the result array. We then call ToString to display our results.

using System;
using System.Net;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        IPAddress[] array = Dns.GetHostAddresses("en.wikipedia.org");
        foreach (IPAddress ip in array)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ip.ToString());
        }
    }
}2620:0:863:ed1a::1
198.35.26.96

Notes, program

The program prints the IP addresses for the English Wikipedia host. Try pasting the IP address into your web browser. It will be associated with Wikipedia.

A summary

We saw the Dns.GetHostAddresses method from the System.Net namespace. Sometimes it is useful to have the numeric IP address instead of relying on the host name.

For most programs, it is best to use the host name. The host name can be changed to resolve to a different IP address. This is more reliable.