Bulk Register Domain Scraper
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:07 am
Hello!
Thanks to the help from this forum I was able to make a crude scraper for my needs. I'm using it to pull all our host records from bulkregister in preparation for switching domain registers. Its very crude, only grabbing the Host Record and making a note of the domains that have custom DNS and EMAIL settings. I found that some kinds I set one day were not working the next day.... maybe bulkregister changes something?
How it works:
manually log into bulkregister.com
from http://www.bulkregister.com/domains/Domain-Manager.aspx, it searches using write from database from Table1.
if the search turns up multiple results, it makes a note for manual work: SearchedFor in table ExtractedData. (see "Issues")
Wait 7 seconds for page to load.
From the domain overview, it finds the currentSite, DNSTYPE and EMAILTYPE. If they're custom then you'll have to manually get them after. (see "Issues")
it navigates into NAVHOST
wait 3 seconds
get the host name, record type and address.
Issues:
bulkregister uses drop down menus for a few essential navigations. I don't know how to change their values. If I could, I would change the Search Type from "Starts with" to "Matching", which would eliminate the multiple results issue.
For now, I'll use the DNSTYPE and EMAILTYPE column to make a list and run new scrapes for all custom settings and match them up manually. I couldn't find a way to navigate from Host Records to DNS Settings and Email Settings without the drop down menu.
I'm open to criticism! This was my first scraper, and while it probably took me just as long as to do the job manually, it was definitely more fun
Let me know if you can help with the Issue.
Thanks to the help from this forum I was able to make a crude scraper for my needs. I'm using it to pull all our host records from bulkregister in preparation for switching domain registers. Its very crude, only grabbing the Host Record and making a note of the domains that have custom DNS and EMAIL settings. I found that some kinds I set one day were not working the next day.... maybe bulkregister changes something?
How it works:
manually log into bulkregister.com
from http://www.bulkregister.com/domains/Domain-Manager.aspx, it searches using write from database from Table1.
if the search turns up multiple results, it makes a note for manual work: SearchedFor in table ExtractedData. (see "Issues")
Wait 7 seconds for page to load.
From the domain overview, it finds the currentSite, DNSTYPE and EMAILTYPE. If they're custom then you'll have to manually get them after. (see "Issues")
it navigates into NAVHOST
wait 3 seconds
get the host name, record type and address.
Issues:
bulkregister uses drop down menus for a few essential navigations. I don't know how to change their values. If I could, I would change the Search Type from "Starts with" to "Matching", which would eliminate the multiple results issue.
For now, I'll use the DNSTYPE and EMAILTYPE column to make a list and run new scrapes for all custom settings and match them up manually. I couldn't find a way to navigate from Host Records to DNS Settings and Email Settings without the drop down menu.
I'm open to criticism! This was my first scraper, and while it probably took me just as long as to do the job manually, it was definitely more fun
Let me know if you can help with the Issue.