Question

Block host names in Windows

Asked by: julianmatz

Hi!

I'm sure this is possible, but just haven't figured out how...

What I want to do is block a domain and all of it's sub-domains in Windows XP. For example, I'd like to be able to block the following on outbound connections:

*.example.com.

I know I can block IP addresses and subnets on my software firewall as well as my router firewall, but need it to be host names.

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-02-28 at 20:15:33ID24187533
Topics

Network Software Firewalls

,

Windows Network Security

,

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
8

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. subnetting
    hi all, if for example i am just given an ip say, 191.43.23.23, am i able to find out whether it had any subneting and if so, how many bits are used for subnetting? Thanks and best regards.
  2. Blocking ICMP Outbound
    Hi All, Pretty mundane quesiton to ask here. But I want to confirm something in relation to Blocking outbound icmp on a windows server. My own thoughts is not to do it as it could effect icmp messages the ip stack might need to send to routers/servers and client machines. ...
  3. Netscreen-25/50 Blocking OUTBOUND Traffic from Sp…
    Netscreen is configured in NAT mode with 3 internal zones and the external Untrust zone on E4. All are 1:1 NAT'ed with the /24 block from our ISP. Internal_hosts : E1 Public_Servers: E2 Special_Hosts: E3 Untrust: E4 There is a host in the Internal_hosts zone with an inter...
  4. Subnetting
    Can someone please explain to me subnetting principles, and how/why should one use that. Links are welcomed Is subnetting important for common LANs? Thank you.

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: crokeefe28Posted on 2009-02-28 at 20:21:54ID: 23766866

how about editing the hosts file to say something like this:

127.0.0.1                 hostname.domainname.tld

That way, when the machine attempted to resolve the host, it would loop back to itself and problem solved.

 

by: julianmatzPosted on 2009-02-28 at 20:23:17ID: 23766868

Thanks, but that won't work because the hosts file does not take wildcards. I would manually need to enter each host name (sub domain) and that's not really an option (there's way too many).

 

by: thebuttersPosted on 2009-02-28 at 20:31:52ID: 23766883

There's a couple of ways to do this, one definitely better than the other:
- best way is to control this at the DNS server level. then you have the ability to redirect traffic bound for domain *.example.com to any IP that you want...

- slightly more messy way is to modify the hosts file in:
C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
you can follow the examples in that file to add something like

127.0.0.1    example.com
127.0.0.1    www.example.com

and so on for all of the host names for that domain.

I hope this works for you, I'll keep looking to see what else I can find.

TechNet document on Windows XP hostname resolution:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727005.aspx

 

by: julianmatzPosted on 2009-02-28 at 22:04:56ID: 23767050

Thanks. I know what a DNS server is and all that but not quite sure what to do here - I mean the only way (as far as I know) to manipulate the DNS Client Resolver Cache is to use the hosts file, which isn't an option in this case.

 

by: svgnmlPosted on 2009-03-01 at 02:04:27ID: 23767571

You may want to look at Freeproxy.
http://www.handcraftedsoftware.org
I use it on a number of client sites and you can use it on a local pc.
You can create any number of rulesets to get it to do what you need.
Blocking sites and logging are what I mainly use it for.

 

by: julianmatzPosted on 2009-04-19 at 12:07:24ID: 31552568

Thanks. I guess using a proxy is the best option. If any of you happen to know of a router with built-in functionality for blocking wildcard hostnames, please let me know.

 

by: svgnmlPosted on 2009-04-21 at 12:19:58ID: 24198072

If you're looking for a fairly cheap router solution then you might want to try TOMATO firmware on a WRT router. It has the option to filter the url using Regex based rules. I use a Linksys WRT54GL with Tomato firmware at home to help keep the kids safe.

 

by: julianmatzPosted on 2009-04-21 at 12:52:44ID: 24198424

Thanks svgnml. I actually have a couple of WRT54GL routers on order so might give that a try when they arrive.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...