Resolve (domainless) machine name from DNS alias
However, what I need is the URI with just the machine name, http://server1/path/to/resource. Of course I can use this, but string manipulation seems seems a bit kludgey:
builder.Host = Dns.GetHostEntry(builder.Host).HostName.Split(new[] { '.' }, 2)[0];  


Also this seems to be a little bit strange, I don't know another way, only a cleaner way.
private Uri GetUriFromAlias(String alias)
{
    UriBuilder builder = new UriBuilder(alias);
    IPHostEntry entry = Dns.GetHostEntry(builder.Host);

    builder.Host = GetMachineName(entry);
    return builder.Uri;
}
private String GetMachineName(IPHostEntry entry)
{
    return entry.HostName.Split(new[] { '.' }, 2)[0];
}