Check DNS Records
Quickly look up common DNS records for a host in real time. Check includes A, AAAA, NS, MX and PTR records.
DNS Records Checked
The DNS records tested and checked here are individually queried. In the past you could use dig to perfrom an ANY lookup that provided a summary of configured record types. However, the ANY type has been deprecated and many DNS servers will no longer return a valid response when queried.
Command Line Tools for DNS Queries
A number of operating system commands are available for performing simple DNS checks. In most Linux based distrubitions the command dig is available by default. Windows comes with the command nslookup by default and many *nix distrubitions will also have this command available (though potentially with different options).
test@home:~$ dig -h
Usage: dig [@global-server] [domain] [q-type] [q-class] {q-opt}
{global-d-opt} host [@local-server] {local-d-opt}
[ host [@local-server] {local-d-opt} [...]]
Where: domain is in the Domain Name System
q-class is one of (in,hs,ch,...) [default: in]
q-type is one of (a,any,mx,ns,soa,hinfo,axfr,txt,...) [default:a]
(Use ixfr=version for type ixfr)
q-opt is one of:
-4 (use IPv4 query transport only)
-6 (use IPv6 query transport only)
-b address[#port] (bind to source address/port)
-c class (specify query class)
-f filename (batch mode)
-k keyfile (specify tsig key file)
-m (enable memory usage debugging)
-p port (specify port number)
-q name (specify query name)
-r (do not read ~/.digrc)
-t type (specify query type)
-u (display times in usec instead of msec)
-x dot-notation (shortcut for reverse lookups)
-y [hmac:]name:key (specify named base64 tsig key)
d-opt is of the form +keyword[=value], where keyword is:
+[no]aaflag (Set AA flag in query (+[no]aaflag))
+[no]aaonly (Set AA flag in query (+[no]aaflag))
+[no]additional (Control display of additional section)
+[no]adflag (Set AD flag in query (default on))
+[no]all (Set or clear all display flags)
+[no]answer (Control display of answer section)
+[no]authority (Control display of authority section)
+[no]badcookie (Retry BADCOOKIE responses)
+[no]besteffort (Try to parse even illegal messages)
+bufsize=### (Set EDNS0 Max UDP packet size)
+[no]cdflag (Set checking disabled flag in query)
+[no]class (Control display of class in records)
+[no]cmd (Control display of command line -
global option)
+[no]comments (Control display of packet header
and section name comments)
+[no]cookie (Add a COOKIE option to the request)
+[no]crypto (Control display of cryptographic
fields in records)
+[no]defname (Use search list (+[no]search))
+[no]dnssec (Request DNSSEC records)
+domain=### (Set default domainname)
+[no]dscp[=###] (Set the DSCP value to ### [0..63])
+[no]edns[=###] (Set EDNS version) [0]
+ednsflags=### (Set EDNS flag bits)
+[no]ednsnegotiation (Set EDNS version negotiation)
+ednsopt=###[:value] (Send specified EDNS option)
+noednsopt (Clear list of +ednsopt options)
+[no]expandaaaa (Expand AAAA records)
+[no]expire (Request time to expire)
+[no]fail (Don't try next server on SERVFAIL)
+[no]header-only (Send query without a question section)
+[no]identify (ID responders in short answers)
+[no]idnin (Parse IDN names [default=on on tty])
+[no]idnout (Convert IDN response [default=on on tty])
+[no]ignore (Don't revert to TCP for TC responses.)
+[no]keepalive (Request EDNS TCP keepalive)
+[no]keepopen (Keep the TCP socket open between queries)
+[no]mapped (Allow mapped IPv4 over IPv6)
+[no]multiline (Print records in an expanded format)
+[no]defname (Use search list (+[no]search))
+[no]dnssec (Request DNSSEC records)
+domain=### (Set default domainname)
+[no]dscp[=###] (Set the DSCP value to ### [0..63])
+[no]edns[=###] (Set EDNS version) [0]
+ednsflags=### (Set EDNS flag bits)
+[no]ednsnegotiation (Set EDNS version negotiation)
+ednsopt=###[:value] (Send specified EDNS option)
+noednsopt (Clear list of +ednsopt options)
+[no]expandaaaa (Expand AAAA records)
+[no]expire (Request time to expire)
+[no]fail (Don't try next server on SERVFAIL)
+[no]header-only (Send query without a question section)
+[no]identify (ID responders in short answers)
+[no]idnin (Parse IDN names [default=on on tty])
+[no]idnout (Convert IDN response [default=on on tty])
+[no]ignore (Don't revert to TCP for TC responses.)
+[no]keepalive (Request EDNS TCP keepalive)
+[no]keepopen (Keep the TCP socket open between queries)
+[no]mapped (Allow mapped IPv4 over IPv6)
+[no]multiline (Print records in an expanded format)
+ndots=### (Set search NDOTS value)
+[no]nsid (Request Name Server ID)
+[no]nssearch (Search all authoritative nameservers)
+[no]onesoa (AXFR prints only one soa record)
+[no]opcode=### (Set the opcode of the request)
+padding=### (Set padding block size [0])
+[no]qr (Print question before sending)
+[no]question (Control display of question section)
+[no]raflag (Set RA flag in query (+[no]raflag))
+[no]rdflag (Recursive mode (+[no]recurse))
+[no]recurse (Recursive mode (+[no]rdflag))
+retry=### (Set number of UDP retries) [2]
+[no]rrcomments (Control display of per-record comments)
+[no]search (Set whether to use searchlist)
+[no]short (Display nothing except short
form of answers - global option)
+[no]showsearch (Search with intermediate results)
+[no]split=## (Split hex/base64 fields into chunks)
+[no]stats (Control display of statistics)
+subnet=addr (Set edns-client-subnet option)
+[no]tcflag (Set TC flag in query (+[no]tcflag))
+[no]tcp (TCP mode (+[no]vc))
+timeout=### (Set query timeout) [5]
+[no]trace (Trace delegation down from root [+dnssec])
+tries=### (Set number of UDP attempts) [3]
+[no]ttlid (Control display of ttls in records)
+[no]ttlunits (Display TTLs in human-readable units)
+[no]unexpected (Print replies from unexpected sources
default=off)
+[no]unknownformat (Print RDATA in RFC 3597 "unknown" format)
+[no]vc (TCP mode (+[no]tcp))
+[no]yaml (Present the results as YAML)
+[no]zflag (Set Z flag in query)
global d-opts and servers (before host name) affect all queries.
local d-opts and servers (after host name) affect only that lookup.
-h (print help and exit)
-v (print version and exit)
test@home:~$ man nslookup
NSLOOKUP(1) BIND9 NSLOOKUP(1)
NAME
nslookup - query Internet name servers interactively
SYNOPSIS
nslookup [-option] [name | -] [server]
DESCRIPTION
Nslookup is a program to query Internet domain name servers. Nslookup has two modes: interactive and non-interactive. Interactive mode allows the user to query
name servers for information about various hosts and domains or to print a list of hosts in a domain. Non-interactive mode is used to print just the name and
requested information for a host or domain.
ARGUMENTS
Interactive mode is entered in the following cases:
1. when no arguments are given (the default name server will be used)
2. when the first argument is a hyphen (-) and the second argument is the host name or Internet address of a name server.
Non-interactive mode is used when the name or Internet address of the host to be looked up is given as the first argument. The optional second argument specifies
the host name or address of a name server.
Options can also be specified on the command line if they precede the arguments and are prefixed with a hyphen. For example, to change the default query type to
host information, and the initial timeout to 10 seconds, type:
nslookup -query=hinfo -timeout=10
The -version option causes nslookup to print the version number and immediately exits.
