Windows redirect traffic to different DNS name not fixed IP address (hosts file equivalent)

hosts-filenetworkingredirectionwindows

Using the Windows hosts file, one can redirect traffic for a domain to a specific IP address, e.g.

domainA.com –> 127.0.0.1

I am looking for a SIMPLE way to do the same, but for a target domain name not for a target IP address (as this is dynamic), I.e.

domainA.com –> domainB.com

Addition:
After the getting some initial answers I think I need to concretise my question.

Situation: I have an application which looks up the IP of the target domain via DNS and then connects via HTTP to the IP address. I do not have control over any proxy settings.

Option 1
Basically I am looking for a way to:

  • intercept DNS requests for a
    domainA.com
  • launch a DNS request for a
    domainB.com
  • serve the IP of domainB.com in
    response to the request for
    domainA.com

Without running an entire DNS server.

Option 2
If a DNS server is the only way, in the alternative I would also be happy with an solution to how to define a non-standard DNS-server for a single application. Any ideas for wrapper applications, etc?

Best Answer

Third solution

beside setting up a dns-server and injecting a hook into gethostbyname:

Register a script as a service which periodically resolves domainB.com and modifies the entry of domainA.com in the /etc/hosts file. Since most dns entries does not change very often, it is sufficient to run the script on startup or once a day.

I am using such a script to update the domain-blocklist on my home computers.

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