The Cloud is a Small World

Last night, I began to wonder about my virtual neighbors here at OdeToCode.

You see, when you provision an Azure App Service, Azure will give your service a public IP address. The IP address will stay with the App Service into the future, as long as you don't delete the App Service.

The IP address is a virtual address shared by many App Services that run on the same "stamp" in a region (where a stamp is essentially a cluster of servers). If, for some reason, you don't want a public address or don't want to share an address, another approach is to setup an isolated App Service, but isolation is pricey. For most of us, using the shared, virtual, and public IP is fine, as we can use custom domains and SSL certificates, and everything just works as expected.

But, back to last night.

What if I could wander around my stamp like a character in a Gibson novel? Who would I see? Do I share an IP address with a celebrity website? Do I live in a criminalized neighborhood where bewildered netizens show up after being click-jacked? Do I have any neighbors who would lend me 2 eggs, and a cup of all-purpose flour if in a pinch?

First step, finding the IP address for OdeToCode.

λ nslookup odetocode.com
Server:  UnKnown
Address:  192.168.200.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    odetocode.com
Address:  168.62.48.183

Taking this IP address to hostingcompass.com, I can see there are 84 known web sites hosted on the IP address (and this wouldn't include sites fronted by a proxy, like Cloudflare, or without a custom domain, I think).

What amazing is not just how many websites I recognized, but how many websites are run by people I personally know. For example:

http://rachelappel.com/

http://nickberardi.com/

http://andrewconnell.com/

https://www.alvinashcraft.com/

http://www.schwammysays.net/

The neighborhood also includes an inordinate number of bars and restaurants, as well as a photographer and investment advisor. Cheers!