Most reliable way to check the technology used to build the website?

ultim · 30 Apr 2009 at 14:40

Hi,

Is there a reliable way to check what web technology is used to build the site im viewing?

Looking at the page extension might not always be reliable as it can changed i.e. friendly urls.

Thanks

suarve · 30 Apr 2009 at 15:41

It's hard to tell sometimes, without having a nose around the souce code. What site are you having probs with?

Ryan0r · 30 Apr 2009 at 16:04

Yep, the source code will always give you clues as to what's been used, both in terms of software and technologies/languages.

Care to share the URL so we can have a nose...?

Dj_Jestar · 30 Apr 2009 at 16:33

No, there is no reliable way.

Tripnologist · 30 Apr 2009 at 16:49

There aren't that many commonly used methods really.
That said, I'm with Jester, I don't think there is any way to know for certain.

asp.net though always has a viewstate.
<input type="hidden" name="__VIEWSTATE" id="__VIEWSTATE" value="******" />

PaulM · 1 May 2009 at 00:15

Tripnologist said:
There aren't that many commonly used methods really.
That said, I'm with Jester, I don't think there is any way to know for certain.

asp.net though always has a viewstate.
<input type="hidden" name="__VIEWSTATE" id="__VIEWSTATE" value="******" />

That's not really reliable either, you can (and quite a few people do) disable viewstate in asp.net. Plus asp.net mvc doesn't use it

unknowndomain · 1 May 2009 at 11:40

Look in the http headers but again could be faked if needed

Inquisitor · 1 May 2009 at 23:17

As Jestar said, there's no reliable way. It's completely up to the server how much information to divulge about its configuration.

Mickey · 2 May 2009 at 00:29

PaulM said:
That's not really reliable either, you can (and quite a few people do) disable viewstate in asp.net. Plus asp.net mvc doesn't use it

Disabling viewstate doesn't get rid of the hidden field, it just makes the contents much smaller, but yes, MVC doesn't use it.

Tripnologist said:
asp.net though always has a viewstate.
<input type="hidden" name="__VIEWSTATE" id="__VIEWSTATE" value="******" />

It'll only have the viewstate field if the page includes an asp.net server side form (<form runat="server"> tag), without it there'll be none of the extra asp.net hidden fields or javascript includes output.