Network Tools:
DNS, site check & WHOIS
Diagnose domains with DNS-over-HTTPS lookups, site reachability tests, and RDAP WHOIS queries. Your browser talks directly to public infrastructure — nothing routes through our servers.
Network Tools
Enter a domain and click Run Check to see DNS records.
How it works
Enter a domain
Type a domain name like example.com into the input field. The tool strips protocols and paths automatically.
Choose a tool
Switch between DNS Lookup, Site Health Check, and WHOIS Lookup using the tabs. Each provides different diagnostic information.
Review results
DNS shows records and TTLs. Site Check shows reachability and headers. WHOIS shows registration data when available.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Best Answer Hub Network Tools suite?
The Best Answer Hub Network Tools suite is a free browser-based collection of three network diagnostics utilities: a DNS Lookup tool, a Site Health Check, and a WHOIS Lookup. The DNS Lookup queries public DNS-over-HTTPS servers to show A, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS, CNAME, and SOA records for any domain. The Site Health Check attempts to reach a website and reports status, response headers, and redirect behavior. The WHOIS Lookup queries RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) servers for domain registration details. All queries originate from your browser — no domain data is sent to our servers.
Is the Network Tools suite free and safe to use?
Yes, it is completely free with no usage limits and no signup required. It is safe because all lookups happen directly between your browser and public DNS/WHOIS infrastructure. When you look up a domain, your browser sends requests to Google DNS-over-HTTPS, the target website, and IANA RDAP servers — not to Best Answer Hub servers. We do not log, store, or transmit any of the domains you query. You can verify this by opening your browser's Network tab in Developer Tools.
How does the DNS Lookup work?
The DNS Lookup uses Google's public DNS-over-HTTPS API (dns.google) to resolve domain names into DNS records. When you enter a domain and select a record type, your browser sends an encrypted HTTPS request directly to Google's DNS resolver, which returns the records in JSON format. This is faster and more private than traditional DNS queries because the request is encrypted and no local DNS server sees your query. The tool displays the record type, TTL (time-to-live), and value for each result.
What DNS record types can I look up?
The tool supports seven common record types. A records map a domain to an IPv4 address. AAAA records map a domain to an IPv6 address. MX records show mail server priorities and hostnames. TXT records contain text data often used for SPF, DKIM, and domain verification. NS records show the authoritative name servers for a domain. CNAME records show canonical name aliases. SOA records show the start of authority information including the primary name server and serial number.
How does the Site Health Check work?
The Site Health Check attempts to connect to a website using your browser's standard fetch API. It tries to load the site over HTTPS and reports whether the server responded, what HTTP status code was returned, what server software is reported in headers, and whether any redirects occurred. Because of browser security restrictions (CORS), some sites will not share detailed headers with third-party web pages. In those cases, the tool reports that the site is reachable but CORS policies prevent header inspection.
How does the WHOIS Lookup work?
The WHOIS Lookup uses RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol), the modern replacement for traditional WHOIS port-43 queries. Your browser first queries IANA's RDAP bootstrap service to find the correct RDAP server for the domain's top-level domain (like .com or .org). It then queries that RDAP server for the domain's registration data. RDAP returns structured JSON data including registrar information, creation date, expiration date, name servers, and status codes. Because RDAP servers are run by individual registries, CORS support varies — some will respond directly to browser requests while others require a server-side relay.
Why does WHOIS sometimes show a CORS error?
RDAP servers are operated by hundreds of different domain registries and registrars around the world, and not all of them configure CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) headers to allow browser-based requests. When a RDAP server does not include CORS headers, your browser blocks the response for security reasons — this is a standard web security feature, not a bug. In these cases, the tool displays the raw RDAP URL so you can query it from a server-side tool like curl if needed. We intentionally do not use a proxy server because that would violate our privacy-first promise of keeping your queries client-side.
Can I use the Network Tools offline?
No. Unlike most other tools in the Developer Toolbox, the Network Tools require an active internet connection because they query live DNS servers, websites, and RDAP registries. The DNS Lookup connects to Google DNS-over-HTTPS, the Site Check connects to the target website, and the WHOIS Lookup connects to IANA RDAP servers. These are inherently online operations. However, no data passes through Best Answer Hub servers — your browser communicates directly with the public infrastructure.
Is my search history logged?
No. Best Answer Hub does not operate the DNS resolvers, web servers, or RDAP registries that the tool queries. Your domain lookups go directly to Google DNS, the target website, and IANA. Best Answer Hub's server never sees the domains you enter. Google DNS may log queries according to their privacy policy. If you are concerned about DNS privacy, consider using a privacy-focused resolver like Quad9 or Cloudflare DNS directly in your browser or operating system settings.
What is the difference between DNS Lookup and WHOIS Lookup?
DNS Lookup tells you where a domain points on the internet — its IP addresses, mail servers, and name servers. This is operational data that changes whenever a website moves servers or reconfigures its infrastructure. WHOIS Lookup tells you who owns a domain — the registrar, registration dates, expiration date, and administrative contacts. This is ownership data managed by domain registries and registrars. DNS answers "where is this domain?" while WHOIS answers "who owns this domain?"
Can I look up internal or private domains?
The tool blocks queries for private IP addresses and local hostnames for security reasons. Domains like localhost, 127.0.0.1, 10.x.x.x, 192.168.x.x, 172.16-31.x.x, and ::1 are rejected with a clear error message. This prevents accidental information leakage about your local network and protects against potential abuse. For internal domain diagnostics, use command-line tools like dig, nslookup, or host from within your network.
How accurate is the Site Health Check?
The Site Health Check provides a best-effort assessment of whether a website is reachable from your current network location. It can confirm that a server is responding to HTTPS requests and report any headers the server chooses to share via CORS. However, it cannot verify SSL certificate validity, check certificate expiry dates, or perform deep TLS analysis — these require server-side tools like OpenSSL or SSL Labs. For comprehensive SSL testing, use dedicated tools like SSL Labs SSL Test or OpenSSL command-line utilities.
What are common DNS issues this tool can help diagnose?
The DNS Lookup can identify several common problems. Missing A or AAAA records explain why a domain does not load. Incorrect MX records explain why email is bouncing or going to spam. Missing or incorrect TXT records explain why SPF and DKIM email authentication is failing. Stale NS records explain why DNS changes are not propagating. Short TTL values explain why DNS changes propagate quickly, while very long TTLs explain why changes take hours or days to take effect globally.
How does this compare to MXToolbox or DNSChecker.org?
MXToolbox and DNSChecker.org are excellent comprehensive network diagnostic platforms with deep SSL analysis, blacklist checks, and SMTP diagnostics. However, they are ad-supported, require an internet connection to their servers, and some features are paywalled. Best Answer Hub's Network Tools differentiate by being completely free, privacy-first, and focused on the most common diagnostic tasks — DNS resolution and basic reachability — with no account required. For enterprise-grade diagnostics, MXToolbox remains the gold standard. For quick, private checks, our tool is faster and simpler.
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