Nslookup

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

INTERACTIVE COMMANDS

 * host [server]
 * Look up information for host using the current default server or using server, if specified. If host is an Internet address and the  query  type  is A or PTR, the name of the host is returned. If host is a name and does  not  have  a  trailing  period,  the search list is used to qualify the name.
 * To look up a host not in the current domain, append a period to the name.
 * server domain
 * lserver domain
 * Change the default server to domain; lserver uses  the  initial server  to  look  up information about domain, while server uses the current default server. If an authoritative answer can't  be found,  the  names  of  servers  that  might have the answer are returned.
 * root -- not implemented
 * finger -- not implemented
 * ls -- not implemented
 * view -- not implemented
 * help -- not implemented
 * ? -- not implemented
 * exit -- Exits the program.
 * set keyword[=value]
 * This command is used to change state information  that  affects the lookups. Valid keywords are:
 * all: Prints the current values of the frequently used options to set. Information about the current default server  and host is also printed.
 * class=value
 * Change the query class to one of:
 * IN -- the Internet class
 * CH -- the Chaos class
 * HS -- the Hesiod class
 * ANY -- wildcard
 * The class specifies the protocol group of the information.
 * (Default = IN; abbreviation = cl)
 * [no]debug
 * Turn debugging mode on. A lot more information is printed about the packet sent to the server  and  the  resulting answer.
 * (Default = nodebug; abbreviation = [no]deb)
 * [no]d2
 * Turn debugging mode on. A lot more information is printed about the packet sent to the server  and  the  resulting answer.
 * (Default = nod2)
 * domain=name
 * Sets the search list to name.
 * [no]search
 * If the  lookup  request contains at least one period but doesn't end with a trailing  period,  append  the  domain names  in  the domain search list to the request until an answer is received.
 * (Default = search)
 * port=value
 * Change the default TCP/UDP name server port to value.
 * (Default = 53; abbreviation = po)
 * querytype=value
 * type=value
 * Change the top of the information query.
 * (Default = A; abbreviations = q, ty)
 * [no]recurse
 * Tell the name server to query other servers if  it  does not have the information.
 * (Default = recurse; abbreviation = [no]rec)
 * retry=number
 * Set the number of retries to number.
 * timeout=number
 * Change the  initial  timeout  interval for waiting for a reply to number seconds.
 * [no]vc
 * Always use a virtual circuit when sending requests to the server.
 * (Default = novc)

FILES

 * /etc/resolv.conf

AUTHOR
Andrew Cherenson

Edit History

 * 2005-07-12 Transcribed from Ubuntu (Hoary) manpage