You
can use the Name Server Lookup (NSLOOKUP) command to query the Domain
Name Service for information about
domain names and IP addresses. If
you enter a domain name, you get back the IP address to which it corresponds,
and if you enter an IP number, then you get back the domain
name to which it corresponds. In practice, NSLOOKUP reaches out over the Internet
to do
a
DNS
lookup
from an authorized name server, and
then formats
the information returned for convenient display.
If you first set the type to mx with the command
"set type=mx", then NSLOOKUP also returns all sorts of interesting
information
about the name server that manages the
domain that you look up. For additional fun, you can lookup the IP addresses
and
domain
names
returned by your first NSLOOKUP query and follow the chain of server administration
backward.
You end
the NSLOOKUP program by typing
"exit". Resources are provided below for running NSLOOKUP on operating systems
and web sites, and references provided for a similar system called Dig.
NSLOOKUP programs. NSLOOKUP was originally written on a Unix system,
and so is easily run on most Linux variants
by simply typing "nslookup" on the command line. On Windows systems
you need to search your computer
for the program "nslookup.exe". (Suggestions for running NSLOOKUP on
Macintosh
are welcome.)
Online web sites. You can also access
NSLOOKUP online from the following web sites.
Dig. The Domain Information Groper (Dig)
program provides NSLOOKUP type capabilities
through DNS lookup, as well as special features like "reverse digs" .
You
may
be
able
to
find
Dig installed on a Linux system. The following web sites provide online Dig services:
