Copyright: Jim Price


Introduction

Welcome to NS-Batch.  I wrote this program to help me with the administration of a web site belonging to a client of mine.  The log file(s) from the web server included the IP addresses of all machines that accessed the site, but did not include hostnames corresponding to those addresses.  My client wanted the hostnames, and I got tired of manually typing (or even cut'n'pasting) the names from a log file into an NS-Lookup program.  Thus NS-Batch was born.

Interactive Processing -  Hostname to IP address / IP address to Hostname.

Batch Processing - IP address to hostname from a file.

Probing - How to look around a subnet.

Output Format Options - How to get the output you want.

Comments - Where to send 'em.

Licensing - How's this thing paid for?

Both 16-bit (for Windows 3.1) and 32-bit (for Windows '95 and Windows NT) are available.  Although the 16-bit version will run under Windows '95, it is not recommended.

The 16-bit version is NS-BATCH.EXE.  The 32-bit version is NSB-32.EXE.


Interactive Processing

IP Address to Hostname:

Enter the IP address for which you want a hostname and press the upper "Lookup" button (Alt-L).  If a hostname is available, it will be displayed.

Hostname to IP address:

Enter the hostname for which you want an IP address and press the lower "Lookup" button (Alt-O).  If an IP address can be found, it will be displayed.


Batch Processing:

Enter the name of an ASCII text file containing numeric IP addresses in dotted-octet notation (i.e., in the form 199.102.3.2), and the name of an output file.  Then click on  the "Run" button (Alt-U).  The program will read the input file, searching for IP addresses, and will create an output file containing a separate line for each address in the input file.  The format of the output file will be determined by the options that you select.


Probing:

You can also use NS-Batch to "probe" for the names of all the machines on a given subnet.  Say for example that you want the names of all computers whose addresses are in the range 199.1.11.1 through 199.1.11.254.  Enter the subnet 199.1.11 (without the trailing '.' character), and the name of an output file.  Then click on the "Probe" button (Alt-R).  The program will start probing the DNS, searching for IP addresses that fit the subnet, and will create an output file containing a separate line for each address in the input file.  The format of the output file will be determined by the options that you select.

Note that NS-Batch only does DNS lookups, and does not actually perform a "ping" on each computer reported.


Output Format Options:

The output files for both batch processing and probing can be formatted as desired.

Each line in the output file can contain up to five fields, separated by the delimiter of your choice.  The order of the fields can also be adjusted by selections on the Output Options dialog.

•	The hexadecimal representation of the binary form of the IP address (makes it easy to sort the file).

•	The IP address in dotted-octet notation.

•	The hostname corresponding to the IP address, if found (for example, www.onramp.net).

•	The hostname in reverse notation (for example, net.onramp.www).

•	A status field describing any anomalies that occurred during the lookup.

Also, you may adjust the operation of NS-Batch via the following selections (on the "Output Options" dialog:

•	Selecting "Verify that hostnames are valid" will cause NS-BATCH to perform a forward lookup of the hostname.  That is, if NS-BATCH finds that "198.57.35.2" is "machine.domain.com", it will then lookup "machine.domain.com" to verify that "198.57.35.2" is returned.

•	Selecting "Include invalid hostnames in output" (which is only applicable if  "Verify that hostnames are valid" is checked) will cause NS-BATCH to include in the output all hostnames found, even if they fail the forward lookup.


Comments, Suggestions, etc.

Comments are more than welcome, and constructive suggestions will be incorporated into future versions of the program.

Please feel free to contact the author via e-mail at:

jim@jimprice.com,

The latest versions of NS-BATCH and other products can always be found on the  NS-Batch homepage at:

http://www.jimprice.com/jimprice/html/jim-soft.htm


Licensing

Although ownership of NS-Batch is retained by the author, this version may be freely distributed, as long as it is not modified, and as long as it is accompanied by this notice.  If you really like the program, and feel compelled to send money, send a small donation to:

Jim Price
13237 Montfort Drive, Suite 406
Dallas, TX  75240