CODEWITHSUNDEEP
clinux
Vishal Sharma
Vishal Sharma

Reputation: 1750

Linux C API for getting remote server's hostname?

Is there a way(a C API?), using which I can get the hostname of a remote server. Something like gethostname() but having an IP address as an argument.

I know about getnameinfo() and getaddrinfo(), however I don't want the hostname used in the DNS server. I want the hostname which you get when you use the hostname command in linux. I have a feeling that it might be impossible to do without knowing the login credentials of that remote server but I'm not sure about it.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 507

Answers (1)

Toby Speight
Toby Speight

Reputation: 30709

Although you can query DNS for hostnames, there's no standard protocol to ask a machine (an interface, really) what it calls itself (if it does even have a name for itself - that's not mandatory).

You'd need to implement and deploy a simple server program onto all the hosts you're interested in (it could be something as simple as adding a line to /etc/inetd.conf to run /bin/hostname if it's a Unix-like system), and a client library to access it.

Upvotes: 1

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