Query DNS

You can use nslookup to query a doman name server (DNS).

Determine which name server is used by a domain

Query the [domain] name server (NS) record to find out which name servers it uses:

nslookup -type=ns [domain]

E.g: Query the NS record for example.com:

me@pc ~ $ nslookup -type=ns example.com
Server:		8.8.8.8
Address:	8.8.8.8#53

Non-authoritative answer:
example.com	nameserver = a.iana-servers.net.
example.com	nameserver = b.iana-servers.net.

Authoritative answers can be found from:

In this case I am using 8.8.8.8 (Google’s DNS) on my PC and example.com’s DNS are a.iana-servers.net and b.iana-servers.net.

Query all DNS records for a domain

Query all DNS records for a [domain]:

nslookup -type=any [domain]

E.g: Query all DNS records for example.com:

me@pc ~ $ nslookup -type=any example.com
;; Truncated, retrying in TCP mode.
Server:		8.8.8.8
Address:	8.8.8.8#53

Non-authoritative answer:
example.com
	origin = sns.dns.icann.org
	mail addr = noc.dns.icann.org
	serial = 2015060332
	refresh = 7200
	retry = 3600
	expire = 1209600
	minimum = 3600
Name:	example.com
Address: 93.184.216.34
example.com	rdata_46 = A 8 2 5 20150627193231 20150620122914 6495 example.com. jYy1VK914LmrwQtKERCkBL3ybouoiVQo1+R0/Lmh/y/3HNl9NkWtAgZ7 a25J4dD28WeZ/0icRiw3oQjLA5frej0zguZmrMrpt9nF6ur3Lu1SZ494 uRfcvXNkHsoYap1/5XqBGNZ/nUcBCOmPpWycYU57BIBo0HfF/ahGVvAg woI=
example.com	nameserver = b.iana-servers.net.
example.com	nameserver = a.iana-servers.net.
example.com	rdata_46 = NS 8 2 5 20150627173937 20150620122914 6495 example.com. C17v0PwrQ/YzgiopEy+Kki08pZzgO8zSjVZc6DBGCMGjOcrXxCh2pYC9 agdjqwrLBYD/MvkHfsLnqcpHbVEy8ZhMm3F1KpcUbYC7E7/CcVyVMMoQ e8g7LRhgDY8JH0nLcJsQWRyrEVMoI9nFChnNb+wrlExPS+iVF871MlCt Y8w=
example.com	rdata_46 = SOA 8 2 5 20150627212620 20150620122914 6495 example.com. gOF2aKbbGQKOAAOLeYn+7c+llvzmWKBnAi/hjT1HOtz2w6W/1+uvqpBk 5TSJJmfOXd6KrlKaELPOfvtXsxpZmFk4gvI73sXNX3Q3VIL460KH4AJF Bbu2kZ4aBqF0bbpiyX1pSeQ3Suw75eEODoUbU7Hb0/WEs9Y97mYxMMIa B2E=
example.com	text = "v=spf1 -all"
... etc ...

Query a particular DNS record

To query the [record] record for [domain]:

nslookup -type=[record] [domain]

E.g: Query MX server of mindspill.net:

me@pc ~/mindspill $ nslookup -type=MX mindspill.net
Server:		8.8.8.8
Address:	8.8.8.8#53

Non-authoritative answer:
mindspill.net	mail exchanger = 20 mx1.123-reg.co.uk.
mindspill.net	mail exchanger = 10 mx0.123-reg.co.uk.

Authoritative answers can be found from:

Query a particular name server for records

To query [name server] name server for all DNS records for [domain]:

nslookup -type=any [domain] [name server]

E.g. Query all records on name server a.iana-servers.net for example.com:

me@pc ~ $ nslookup -type=any example.com a.iana-servers.net
;; Truncated, retrying in TCP mode.
Server:		a.iana-servers.net
Address:	199.43.132.53#53

example.com
	origin = sns.dns.icann.org
	mail addr = noc.dns.icann.org
	serial = 2015060332
	refresh = 7200
	retry = 3600
	expire = 1209600
	minimum = 3600
Name:	example.com
Address: 93.184.216.34
example.com	rdata_46 = A 8 2 5 20150627193231 20150620122914 6495 example.com. jYy1VK914LmrwQtKERCkBL3ybouoiVQo1+R0/Lmh/y/3HNl9NkWtAgZ7 a25J4dD28WeZ/0icRiw3oQjLA5frej0zguZmrMrpt9nF6ur3Lu1SZ494 uRfcvXNkHsoYap1/5XqBGNZ/nUcBCOmPpWycYU57BIBo0HfF/ahGVvAg woI=
example.com	nameserver = a.iana-servers.net.
example.com	nameserver = b.iana-servers.net.
example.com	rdata_46 = NS 8 2 5 20150627173937 20150620122914 6495 example.com. C17v0PwrQ/YzgiopEy+Kki08pZzgO8zSjVZc6DBGCMGjOcrXxCh2pYC9 agdjqwrLBYD/MvkHfsLnqcpHbVEy8ZhMm3F1KpcUbYC7E7/CcVyVMMoQ e8g7LRhgDY8JH0nLcJsQWRyrEVMoI9nFChnNb+wrlExPS+iVF871MlCt Y8w=
example.com	rdata_46 = SOA 8 2 5 20150627212620 20150620122914 6495 example.com. gOF2aKbbGQKOAAOLeYn+7c+llvzmWKBnAi/hjT1HOtz2w6W/1+uvqpBk 5TSJJmfOXd6KrlKaELPOfvtXsxpZmFk4gvI73sXNX3Q3VIL460KH4AJF Bbu2kZ4aBqF0bbpiyX1pSeQ3Suw75eEODoUbU7Hb0/WEs9Y97mYxMMIa B2E=
example.com	text = "$Id: example.com 4054 2015-06-02 22:45:32Z mvergara $"
example.com	text = "v=spf1 -all"

Reference: Linux and Unix nslookup command

Last modified: 20/06/2015 Tags: ,

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