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A Complete Guide to Identifying Your Registrar, Listing DNSSEC Domains, and Modifying Your Hosts File

This article explains how to identify the registrar of a domain, how to list domains with DNSSEC enabled on a server, and how to modify the hosts file on macOS, Linux, and Windows systems. These procedures help administrators manage domain ownership, DNS security, and local DNS overrides for testing and development.

domain registrar, DNSSEChosts fileWHM, DNS management

~3 min read • Updated Feb 18, 2026

1. How to Identify Your Registrar


A domain registrar manages the reservation and administration of domain names. When you purchase a domain, the registrar allows you to:

  • Manage contact information on the registration entry
  • Use anonymous registration services (if offered)
  • Manage nameservers
  • Manage DNSSEC settings

1.1 Steps to Identify Your Registrar

  1. Open your web browser and go to the InterNIC website.
  2. Enter your domain name in the search field.
  3. Select Domain.
  4. Click Submit.

The results page will display your domain’s registration details. The Registrar URL line shows the registrar’s website.


1.2 Additional Information

  • If you forgot your login credentials, use the registrar’s recovery tools.
  • If the registrar indicates the domain was registered through a reseller, check your billing records.
  • Even if WHOIS privacy is enabled, the registrar name and URL will still appear.
  • Some hosting providers also offer domain registration services.


2. How to List Domains with DNSSEC


DNSSEC (DNS Security Extensions) adds cryptographic validation to DNS records, preventing spoofing and tampering.


2.1 List DNSSEC-enabled Domains

Log in to your server as the root user via SSH and run:

pdnsutil list-secure-zones

Example output:

Aug 24 12:28:29 [bindbackend] Done parsing domains, 0 rejected, 443 new, 0 removed
example.com
All secure zonecount:1

Note: example.com represents a domain on your server.



3. How to Modify Your Hosts File


Some hosting providers offer temporary URLs such as http://IP/~username for testing websites before DNS propagation. However, some applications do not work correctly with temporary URLs.


To force your workstation to resolve a domain to a specific IP address, you can modify your local /etc/hosts file.


Important: Your operating system will not automatically remove changes to the hosts file. To revert to public DNS, you must manually delete the entries you added.


3.1 Modify the Hosts File on macOS® and Linux®


  1. Open the /etc/hosts file with your preferred text editor.
  2. Add the server’s IP address and domain name at the bottom of the file:
127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain localhost4 localhost4.localdomain4
::1 localhost localhost.localdomain localhost6 localhost6.localdomain6
192.168.0.20 example.com
1.2.3.4 username.example.com

In this example, 1.2.3.4 is the server’s IP address and username.example.com is the domain.


Save the file and reload your browser.


3.2 Modify the Hosts File on Microsoft Windows®


  1. Open the Start menu.
  2. Search for Notepad.
  3. Right-click Notepad → Run as Administrator.
  4. Open the following file:
C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts

Add the server’s IP address and domain name:

127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain localhost4 localhost4.localdomain4
::1 localhost localhost.localdomain localhost6 localhost6.localdomain6
192.168.0.20 example.com
1.2.3.4 username.example.com

Save the file and reload your browser.



Conclusion


Identifying your domain registrar, listing DNSSEC-enabled domains, and modifying your hosts file are essential skills for managing domains, testing websites, and ensuring DNS security. These tools help administrators troubleshoot DNS issues, validate domain ownership, and control how their workstation resolves domain names.


Written & researched by Dr. Shahin Siami

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