Quickdns-Talk Digest #441

Re: Quickdns-Talk Digest #441 - 13/01/00

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Thank you for the IP encoding explanation and the formula that makes it work. As I understand it algebraically an IP address of "a.b.c.d" would be calculated at
( (a*16777216) + (b*65536) + (c*256) + (d)

I am, naturally, still confused about why that would work in someone's browser. In practice I have been unable to reach addresses encoded this way from my Mac but have had no problem getting there using a friend's PC. Is this platform or browser specific or a server issue or a dns configuration issue or a virtual hosting issue or is it VooDoo?

>At 1:33 PM -0800 1/12/2000, Erich K. wrote:
>>Does anyone have an idea about how one would go about hiding the
>>actual URL of a web site when that url is published and still have
>>the url resolve to the proper domain?
>>
>>For whatever reason , I have a client who wants to build a site
>>that shows an encrypted URL in the browser's address/location bar.
>>Don't fret, the content is legal and wholesome but privacy/anonymity
>>is a paramount concern.
>>
>>I can understand how this might be accomplished on the server-side
>>using something like Welcome. What l don't understand, is how one
>>can click on a link to a published url like
>>http://576765736/abc/index.html and have it arrive at
>>http://www.theactualaddress.com/index.html
>>
>>I've seen urls like this in spam I get but haven't a clue how they work.
>>
>>Does this have to happen on the client side or is there some miracle
>>of DNS manipulation involved?
>
>This is an odd one; it doesn't have anything to do with DNS. Here's
>how it works:
>
>"www.theactualaddress.com" resolves to an IP address, such as
>192.168.0.1. An IP address is normally represented by a series of
>four decimal numbers between 0 and 255, called "octets" for the fact
>that each equates to a binary number with 8 digits. The IP address is
>actually a 32-bit integer. The 4-octet (4x8-bit) representation is
>simply an easier way to read it. So 192.168.0.1 can be translated to
> ((1 * 256^0) + (0 * 256^1) + (168 * 256^2) + (192 * 256^3)), or
> ((1 * 1) + (0 * 256) + (168 * 65536) + (192 * 16777216)), or
> (1 + 0 + 11010048 + 3221225472), or
> 3232235520
>
>You could probably use WebSTAR's Virtual Hosts manager to recognize
>when the address has been written in decimal (as a virtual hostname)
>to route such requests to whatever root folder you want. You could
>also use Welcome to alter the path as indicated above, removing the
>"abc".
>____________________________________________________________________
>Chris Buxton cbuxton@menandmice.com
>Men & Mice http://www.menandmice.com
>Makers of: QuickDNS Pro

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