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
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
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 on or off the display of the full response packet and any intermediate response packets when
searching.
(Default = nodebug; abbreviation = [no]deb)
[no]d2
Turn debugging mode on or off. This displays more about what nslookup is doing.
(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 type of the information query.
[no]vc
Always use a virtual circuit when sending requests to the server.
(Default = novc)
[no]fail
Try the next nameserver if a nameserver responds with SERVFAIL or a referral (nofail) or terminate
query (fail) on such a response.
(Default = nofail)
FILES
/etc/resolv.conf
SEE ALSO
dig(1), host(1), named(8).
AUTHOR
Andrew Cherenson
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2004-2007, 2010 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
BIND9 Jun 30, 2000 NSLOOKUP(1)
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