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network-traffic

How do I monitor network connections to see what address a certain program is contacting

I made a program many years ago, that connects to a SQL Server database (port 1433), and I no longer have the code for this application, but I need to know whether it is trying to connected to the domain name exampleDomain.com or if it is connecting directly to the IP address, xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.

I need to find this out because I want to switch hosting providers, but cannot let this application stop working, so I'm not sure if changing the IP Address of the SQL server will affect the program.

Is there a way I can tell what this program is connecting to? The raw IP Address or the domain Name?

thanks.

Solution

  • Use wireshark. http://www.wireshark.org/

    It's free, easy to use, and very powerful.

    You can monitor all traffic coming out of your PC and you can filter the traffic by type. So first I would look for any DNS communication that has MyDoman.com and then look at TCP connections.