How to Find the IP Address of a Game Server?

Introduction

Typically with online gaming, a player connects to a server located somewhere in the cloud and then sends and receives data through the Internet. This process is how game servers keep players' data and updates it for every other player to see in real-time what is happening on the server. For this connection to be established, it means that the player's machine must connect to the game server, and therefore ultimately, it's possible for a player to find the IP Address of a game server. To that end, we'll be looking at how a player can do this to find out the exact IP Address of a game server.

How to Find the IP Address of a Game Server

There are a few tools one can use to get the IP Address of a game server within the commercial market. Alongside those, however, there is a simple DOS command one can use to find the IP address of the game server. Windows built-in command line (cmd) offers a tool called netstat which can accomplish exactly that. The easiest way to accomplish this is to close all programs that use your network (i.e. Skype, Outlook, YouTube, and etc) and run "netstat -n" on DOS command-line. You don't necessarily need to close all applications, but it will be easier for unfamiliar users of the tool to be able to easily find the IP Address of the game server. This will then present you with a list of all remote access services you are connected to along with their IP Addresses, allowing you to identify the game server.

C:\>netstat -h

Displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP network connections.

NETSTAT [-a] [-b] [-e] [-f] [-n] [-o] [-p proto] [-r] [-s] [-x] [-t] [interval]

  -a            Displays all connections and listening ports.
  -n            Displays addresses and port numbers in numerical form.


C:\>netstat -n

Active Connections

  Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address        State
  TCP    10.0.10.3:3389         27.254.108.33:56142    CLOSE_WAIT
  TCP    10.0.10.3:3389         27.254.108.33:56143    CLOSE_WAIT
  TCP    10.0.10.3:3389         27.254.108.33:56144    CLOSE_WAIT
  TCP    10.0.10.3:3389         27.254.108.33:56145    CLOSE_WAIT