How to detect web server type

Question

I\'m trying to detect which Web Server type is running a domain, so what are the best options to deal with this.

I\'m doing a C# application.

Answer 1

Another simple way is to use a web browser (Chrome, FireFox, IE). Most of them allow to access its developer mode pressing the F12 key. Then, access the web server url and go to the "Network" tab and "Response Headers" option to find if the "Server" response header is present.

The bad news is that the "Server" header may not be present in the response as it is optional and, in fact, it's use is not recommended if security is a concern (otherwise a hacker may know the server in use and its version, so she can concentrate in it's vulnerabilities in order to attack the server)

Answer 2

You could make a request to the server and check the response header for the value of "Server"

For example

using System;
using System.Net;

public class TestApp {
    public static void Main( string[] args ) {
        HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("http://www.stackoverflow.com/");
        WebResponse response = request.GetResponse();
        Console.Out.WriteLine( response.Headers.Get("Server") );
    }
}

// Output:
// Microsoft-IIS/7.0