How to find out domain's email provider
Solution 1
You have two options (tested with windows ports, will check other versions when I get into work tomorrow):
Host
C:\>host google.com | grep mail
google.com mail is handled by 40 alt3.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com mail is handled by 50 alt4.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com mail is handled by 10 aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com mail is handled by 20 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com mail is handled by 30 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com.
Dig
C:\>dig google.com mx | grep MX | awk 'FNR>1'
google.com. 294 IN MX 30 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com. 294 IN MX 40 alt3.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com. 294 IN MX 50 alt4.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com. 294 IN MX 10 aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com. 294 IN MX 20 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com.
These will give you the domain of the servers that mail is hosted from. The numbers in front (10,20,30,40,50) are the priority of the server. The commands basically report where the DNS records that handle mail (MX) are pointed to.
Solution 2
First, find an address for the mail server. nslookup isn't the greatest, but it comes with most Windows versions and many other OSes:
C:\>nslookup
Default Server: your.dns.server.name
Address: x.x.x.x
> set type=MX
> google.com
Non-authoritative answer:
google.com MX preference = 40, mail exchanger = alt3.aspmx.l.google.com
google.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = aspmx.l.google.com
google.com MX preference = 30, mail exchanger = alt2.aspmx.l.google.com
google.com MX preference = 20, mail exchanger = alt1.aspmx.l.google.com
google.com MX preference = 50, mail exchanger = alt4.aspmx.l.google.com
alt3.aspmx.l.google.com internet address = 74.125.113.27
aspmx.l.google.com internet address = 74.125.53.27
alt1.aspmx.l.google.com internet address = 74.125.159.27
alt2.aspmx.l.google.com internet address = 74.125.93.27
alt4.aspmx.l.google.com internet address = 209.85.143.27
>
Once you know some server IP addresses, then you can pick one and look it up in a whois
client, or using one of the many web-based whois services (e.g. http://whois.domaintools.com/) to find out what netblocks the address is in and who they are registered to.
Usually you'll get many matching netblocks, as big netblocks are subdivided into smaller netblocks, and those are subdivided into even smaller netblocks, etc.; Look for the smallest one (the one with the least number of addresses in the range) to get the most specific info on who the address belongs to.
E.g.:
NetRange: 74.0.0.0 - 74.255.255.255
CIDR: 74.0.0.0/8
...
NetType: Allocated to ARIN
... x.0.0.0 - x.255.255.255? That's a lot of addresses. And it's registered to the addressing authority itself. Doesn't tell us anything useful.
NetRange: 74.125.0.0 - 74.125.255.255
CIDR: 74.125.0.0/16
OriginAS:
NetName: GOOGLE
NetHandle: NET-74-125-0-0-1
Parent: NET-74-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
RegDate: 2007-03-13
Updated: 2007-05-22
Ref: http://whois.arin.net/rest/net/NET-74-125-0-0-1
OrgName: Google Inc.
OrgId: GOGL
Address: 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
City: Mountain View
StateProv: CA
PostalCode: 94043
Country: US
RegDate: 2000-03-30
Updated: 2011-04-10
Ref: http://whois.arin.net/rest/org/GOGL
OrgTechHandle: ZG39-ARIN
OrgTechName: Google Inc
OrgTechPhone: +1-650-253-0000
OrgTechEmail:
OrgTechRef: http://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/ZG39-ARIN
There we go.
Solution 3
If you know the dns source of authority for the domain (probably the hosting provider), you can use dig with the mx flag:
dig @ns.soa.com domain.com mx
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Phil Moncel
Updated on September 18, 2022Comments
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Phil Moncel over 1 year
I need to find out what provider is providing emails for a domain (like [email protected]). I know I can find the provider for hosting a domain but how can I find out about emails for a domain?
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Phil Moncel over 12 yearsThe provider is what I am trying to figure out. How so you figure out the dns source? I only have the domain name and an email address to go off of.
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Sean Lynch over 12 yearsYou can query google's dns server to get that, and skip the step with the
mx
flag if you useany
:dig @8.8.8.8 domain.org any