On Mon, Nov 30, 1998 at 05:09:54AM -0800, Javilk wrote:
> Before I start writing ping routines and such, what is the quickest,
> simplest way of determining whether a host exists?
The host may *not* exist: for example, there is no such machine as gsp.org,
it's just an MX record. (And existence of an MX record alone doesn't
mean that the host actually will accept mail, or that it will accept
mail 24x7.) Hosts can be located behind firewalls which disallow ICMP
traffic, so even though they're real, they can't be pinged from the Internet.
Or the host itself may disallow pings.
And knowing that the host exists doesn't tell you that the address
is legitimate; it could be a valid host but an invalid username...
and since most sites turn off finger and disallow SMTP EXPN and VRFY,
there's often no way to verify that.
So my response to this problem is to classify it as "essentially unsolvable"
and forget it.
---Rsk
Rich Kulawiec
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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