code: def get_host_ip(hostname, fallback=None):
      
      if is_ip(hostname):
          return hostname
  
      ip_addr = ns_query(hostname)
      if not ip_addr:
          try:
              ip_addr = socket.gethostbyname(hostname)
          except Exception:
              log("Failed to resolve hostname '%s'" % (hostname),
                  level=WARNING)
              return fallback
      return ip_addr
docs: Resolves the IP for a given hostname, or returns
      the input if it is already an IP.