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3. Usage

IDserver is simple to use. Once it is installed, just type at a shell prompt

> idserver [OPTION...] URL

where URL is the URL of the web server you are interested in. IDserver will then output the results of its conversation with the server at that address.

3.1 Options

IDserver allows the following option switches.

-l, --lookup              Only do DNS or reverse DNS lookup, not actual server query.

-p, --protocol=PROTOCOL   Use the specified protocol to contact the server.

-r, --port=PORT           Use the specified port to contact the server.

-?, --help                Output info on usage and option switches.

    --usage               Output brief info on usage.

-V, --version             Output the program version.

The URL can be either a domain name or an IP address; IDserver will automatically try to determine which type it is and act accordingly. When the URL is determined to be a domain name, IDserver will do a DNS lookup to find the IP address corresponding to that domain name and output the result. When the URL is determined to be an IP address, IDserver will do a reverse DNS lookup to find the domain name corresponding to it and output the result. Note that more than one domain name may be associated with a single IP address, so the reverse lookup may not always give the results you expect (since only the "primary" domain name for an IP address will be found). If the -l switch is present, this lookup is all IDserver will do (it will not actually attempt to contact the server at the given URL).

If the -p switch is present, IDserver will use the specified protocol to contact the server. The protocols currently supported by IDserver are ftp, http, imap, news, pop, and smtp (one of those strings must follow the -p switch). Please note that the testing I have done with the IMAP protocol is very sketchy compared to the others.

Each of the above protocols has a default port number, and IDserver will use that port number unless a different one is specified either with the -r switch or in the URL (see below). If no protocol is specified, either with the -p switch or in the URL (see below), IDserver will use HTTP. (Often you will get more information about the server by letting IDserver use HTTP even for a server whose primary purpose involves one of the other protocols, since all of the others require some type of login for detailed information exchange; IDserver can do little more than confirm that the server at the given URL is indeed responding to the specified protocol.)

If the -r switch is present, IDserver will use the specified port to contact the server, even if it isn't the default port for the protocol to be used.

Before contacting the server, IDserver will parse the URL to look for a protocol prefix or a port number (e.g., http://www.peterdonis.net or www.peterdonis.net:80). If IDserver finds a protocol prefix that it recognizes, it will use that protocol to contact the server; if a port number is present, IDserver will use the specified port to contact the server (you should only have to use this if the server does not support the default port for the protocol you want to use, which is extremely rare).

Note that IDserver parses the URL last, even if it's not last on the command line, so if a protocol is specified in the URL, it will override the -p switch, and if a port is specified in the URL, it will override the -r switch.


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