Nslookup

The nslookup command can be used in Windows and Unix to find various details relating to the Domain Name System (DNS) including IP addresses of a particular computer, MX records for a domain or the NS servers of a domain - all using DNS lookups. The name means "name server lookup". The most common version of the program is included as part of the BIND package. More modern alternative to nslookup are the "host" and "dig" programs, also shipping with BIND.

nslookup comes with a number of subcommands to help you get more information from the specific dns servers. They are:

* server NAME (where NAME is the name or ip address of the dns server you wish to query). It is not always possible to query a specific dns server as often dns queries are blocked to prevent denial of service attacks
* set type=NAME (where NAME is the type of record you would like to look at. For example set type mx will give you the mail records)

Example usage

Server: Atractive.idle.ro Address: 169.254.82.215 Non-authoritative answer: Name: Atractive.idle.ro Addresses: 89.136.182.136 ,89.136.182.136 , 89.136.182.136 ,89.136.182.136

Using subcommands:

nslookup > server dns.com Default Server: dns.com Address: 169.254.82.215 > set type=mx > microsoft.com Server: dns.com Address: 64.40.103.249

microsoft.com MX preference = 0, mail exchanger = nullmx.domainmanager.com > exit

Interpretation of the standard nslookup result

The first two lines are information about the server delivering the answer to the nslookup requested by the user.The next two lines tell the user the name and IP address of the machine being looked up.

External links

* cite web | url=http://homepages.tesco.net/~J.deBoynePollard/FGA/nslookup-flaws.html | title=nslookup is a badly flawed tool. Don't use it.
author=Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
work=Frequently Given Answers
accessdate=August 4
accessyear=2005|
* cite web | url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/200525 | title=Using NSLookup.exe
author=Microsoft
accessdate=January 23
accessyear=2008|
* cite newsgroup
url=http://groups.google.com/group/comp.protocols.dns.bind/msg/6de73c9eaa37137f
title=nslookup flaws
author=Brad Knowles
newsgroup=comp.protocols.dns.bind
id=9i4lbm$[e-mail]
date=2001-07-06 — 4 flaws in nslookup
* cite newsgroup
url=http://groups.google.com/group/comp.protocols.dns.bind/msg/39ffce8e8510b9cc
title=nslookup flaws
author=Barry Margolin
newsgroup=comp.protocols.dns.bind
id=9i4q4g$[e-mail]
date=2001-07-06 — a 5th flaw in nslookup
* cite web | url=http://cr.yp.to/djbdns/nslookup.html | title=Notes on nslookup
author=Daniel J. Bernstein
work=
accessdate=August 4
accessyear=2005|
* [http://w3dt.net/tools/dnslookup/ Nslookup Online] - Perform an Nslookup online from Australia.
* [http://www.dtools.net/nslookup Nslookup Online] by dtools