What is NSLookup?

Information:

NSLookup is a primary diagnostic tool for debugging a Domain Name System (DNS) architecture. You can use it to display any resource record on any DNS server including UNIX-based DNS implementations. NSLOOKUP from most other DNS implementations should also work against the Microsoft-based DNS server.

This is a command line utility and has the following syntax:

NSLOOKUP [[-option ...] [computer-to-find]] | - [server]




Parameters:

-option
You can specify one or more NSLOOKUP commands as a command-line option. For a list of commands, see below. For more details, enter HELP or ? in an interactive session.

Each option consists of a hyphen (-) followed immediately by the command name and, in some cases, an equal sign (=), and then a value. For example, to change the default query type to host (computer) information and the initial timeout to ten seconds, you would type:

NSLOOKUP -querytype=hinfo -timeout=10

The command line length must be less than 256 characters.

computer-to-find
This instruct NSLOOKUP to Look up information for computer-to-find using the current default server or using server if specified. If computer-to-find is an IP address and the query type is A or PTR, the name of the computer is returned. If computer-to-find is a name and does not have a trailing period, the default DNS domain name is appended to the name. (This behavior depends on the state of the set options: domains, srchlist, defname, and search.) To look up a computer not in the current DNS domain, append a period to the name.

If you type a hyphen (-) instead of computer-to-find, the command prompt changes to NSLOOKUP interactive mode.

server
Use this server as the DNS name server. If you omit server, the default DNS name server is used.




NSLOOKUP Commands:

For more details, enter HELP or ? in an interactive session.

• help
• exit
• finger
• ls
• lserver
• root
• server
• set
• set all
• set cl[ass]
• set [no]deb[ug]
• set [no]d2
• set [no]def[name]
• set do[main]
• set [no]ig[nore]
• set po[rt]
• set q[uerytype]
• set [no]rec[urse]
• set ret[ry]
• set ro[ot]
• set [no]sea[rch]
• set srchl[ist]
• set ti[meout]
• set ty[pe]
• set [no]v[c]
• view