Hostname to IP Lookup
Resolve a domain name or hostname to its IP address in real time. Uses live DNS resolution from our servers - Useful for checking what IP a hostname currently points to.
How Hostname Resolution Works
When you type a domain name into your browser, your operating system queries a DNS (Domain Name System) resolver to translate that name into an IP address. This process is called forward DNS resolution.
| Step | What Happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | Your device queries its configured DNS resolver (usually your ISP's or a public resolver like 8.8.8.8) |
| 2 | The resolver checks its cache for a recent answer |
| 3 | If not cached, it queries the authoritative nameservers for the domain |
| 4 | The A or AAAA record (IP address) is returned and cached for its TTL duration |
Hostname vs IP Address
| Hostname | IP Address | |
|---|---|---|
| Example | example.com | 93.184.216.34 |
| Human readable | Yes | No |
| Can change over time | Points to different IPs | Static unless changed |
| Used for | Web browsing, email | Network routing, direct connections |
DNS Record Types Explained
When a hostname is resolved, the DNS system uses different record types depending on what information is being looked up. Understanding these record types is essential for network administrators and developers.
| Record Type | Full Name | Purpose | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Address | Maps hostname to IPv4 address | example.com → 93.184.216.34 |
| AAAA | IPv6 Address | Maps hostname to IPv6 address | example.com → 2606:2800:220:1:... |
| CNAME | Canonical Name | Alias from one hostname to another | www.example.com → example.com |
| MX | Mail Exchange | Routes email to the correct mail server | example.com → mail.example.com |
| TXT | Text | Arbitrary text - Used for SPF, DKIM, domain verification | v=spf1 include:... |
| NS | Nameserver | Delegates DNS zone to authoritative nameservers | ns1.example.com |
| PTR | Pointer | Reverse DNS - Maps IP back to hostname | 34.216.184.93.in-addr.arpa |
Average DNS Resolution Time by Region
Measured from a resolver with warm cache to the authoritative nameserver
Frequently Asked Questions
A domain name (like example.com) identifies a zone in the DNS hierarchy. A hostname is any fully qualified name that resolves to an IP address - Including subdomains like www.example.com or mail.example.com. Every hostname is within a domain, but not every domain name is a hostname.
Many services use multiple A records for the same hostname (round-robin DNS) to distribute traffic across servers. Large services like Google or Cloudflare return different IPs depending on your location and load conditions - This is called Anycast or GeoDNS.
TTL (Time To Live) is the number of seconds a DNS answer can be cached by resolvers before they must fetch a fresh result from the authoritative server. A TTL of 300 means resolvers cache the answer for 5 minutes. Lower TTLs allow faster updates; higher TTLs reduce DNS query load.
Yes. This tool queries DNS in real time from our servers. If you recently changed an A record, run a lookup here to see the current result from our vantage point. Remember that propagation time varies - Old results can persist in caches until their TTL expires.