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Use the nslookup Command

Published by Jeff Novotny
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The nslookup command is a useful tool for investigating domain name propagation issues. It allows users to obtain information regarding domain names and IP addresses from the Domain Name System (DNS) infrastructure. This guide introduces and explains how to use the nslookup command, and provides several examples.

What is the nslookup Command?

The name of the nslookup command is an abbreviated version of “name server lookup”. nslookup sends a request to the local domain name system server asking for information from its DNS records. In response, the DNS server returns the IP address or relevant domain information for a specific website or server. However, it can also return the domain associated with a particular IP address.

The nslookup command can be used in either interactive or non-interactive mode. It is available on Linux, macOS, and Windows systems, and provides several useful options. The command relies on the underlying TCP/IP and networking system tools.

Here are some of the main purposes of the nslookup command:

  • nslookup quickly returns the IP address for any domain. It is considered one of the best tools for troubleshooting DNS problems. It is especially handy for situations where the IP address of a domain has recently changed, but requests for the domain are not resolving.
  • It is used to investigate suspicious domains. A good example is a web address designed to closely mimic an existing domain, for instance, examp1e.com in place of example.com.
  • It can defend against cache poisoning in which invalid domain information is sent to secondary DNS servers, known as resolvers.

How Do DNS Lookups Work?

Each DNS server maintains a list of mappings between domain names and their associated IP addresses. When a DNS server receives a DNS request for a particular domain name from a web server, it translates the domain into an IP address. It then returns the address to the web server, which uses it to request the web page. Every internet client uses DNS services to properly transmit outgoing TCP/IP packets.

Typically a DNS responds to a request by retrieving information from its cache. The cache is updated when updates are received. If the domain name entry for a particular domain has been recently changed, the server might not have received the updated information yet. In this event, the nslookup command still receives the outdated information from the DNS. This allows users to see what the local DNS record points to and determine whether the DNS update has propagated fully.

The nslookup command typically sends its request to the local DNS server. However, an alternate DNS can be specified, such as the root system within the DNS zone. Not all servers are accessible because many internal DNS systems are private and do not respond to external requests. Therefore, private DNS servers don’t respond to external nslookup requests.

Note

In actual practice, there are two types of DNS services. A recursive DNS service, also known as a resolver, maintains a cache of the domain name mappings, but does not process any updates.

In many networks, a resolver initially handles DNS queries. If it does not have the information, perhaps because the entry has aged out, it forwards the request to an authoritative DNS. Authoritative DNS systems maintain the master DNS records and are responsible for keeping the tables updated. The authoritative DNS returns the IP address to the resolver, which relays it back to the original web server. The resolver also caches the mapping for future requests.

What Information Can the nslookup Command Retrieve?

A DNS server maintains several different types of domain records, covering topics including reverse lookups, mail servers, and time-to-live settings. Here is a list of all the available DNS records.

  • Address (A) Record: Lists the IP address of the domain. Each address for the domain is described using a separate address record, so a domain can have multiple addresses and “A” records.
  • Canonical Name (CNAME) Record: Lists any aliases for the host.
  • Mail Exchange (MX) Record: Provides information about the mail servers within the domain.
  • Name Server (NS) Record: Lists all primary and secondary name servers for the domain.
  • Pointer (PTR) Record: A pointer record enables reverse lookups. It lists the host name associated with an IP address.
  • Start of Authority (SOA) Record: An SOA record indicates the most authoritative host for the DNS zone. A zone groups together multiple domains within the same organization.
  • Text (TXT) Record: A TXT record contains notes about the domain. Administrators often use this field to verify ownership and prevent spam.
  • Time-to-Live (TTL) Record: This setting indicates how long resolvers should cache the DNS information.

Before You Begin

  1. If you have not already done so, create a Linode account and Compute Instance. See our Getting Started with Linode and Creating a Compute Instance guides.

  2. Follow our Setting Up and Securing a Compute Instance guide to update your system. You may also wish to set the timezone, configure your hostname, create a limited user account, and harden SSH access.

Note
This guide is written for a non-root user. Commands that require elevated privileges are prefixed with sudo. If you are not familiar with the sudo command, see the Users and Groups guide.

How to Use the nslookup Command

nslookup is available for the Linux, macOS, and Windows operating systems. However, the syntax is structured slightly different on Windows. This guide focuses on how to use the command on Linux-based systems, but the commands are very similar on macOS. Information on how to use nslookup on Windows can be found in the Microsoft documentation .

The nslookup command supports both interactive and non-interactive modes. Interactive mode is useful for script development, troubleshooting, and exploratory searches. The non-interactive command is better for quick searches for a single piece of information. The non-interactive command can be fully integrated into scripts and software applications.

nslookup is pre-installed and ready-to-use on most Linux-based systems. If it is not, it easily can be installed from the command line.

  • Debain and Ubuntu:

    sudo apt-get install dnsutils

  • AlmaLinux, CentOS Stream, Fedora, and Rocky Linux:

    sudo dnf install bind-utils

Using nslookup in Interactive Mode

To use nslookup interactively, simply enter the command nslookup from a terminal with no additional parameters. The interactive prompt should appear.

nslookup


>
Note
If you receive an error message when running the nslookup command, the network services might have been stopped. Reboot the system to reinitialize the process.

The interactive prompt accepts requests for server information without requiring the nslookup command. To use nslookup to find the IP address for the English-language Wikipedia domain, enter the following:

en.wikipedia.org

The local DNS server returns its own address along with information about the en.wikipedia.org domain. The reply lists the canonical name of the server and its Ipv4 and Ipv6 addresses:

Server:		127.0.0.53
Address:	127.0.0.53#53

Non-authoritative answer:
en.wikipedia.org	canonical name = dyna.wikimedia.org.
Name:	dyna.wikimedia.org
Address: 91.198.174.192
Name:	dyna.wikimedia.org
Address: 2620:0:862:ed1a::1
Note
This answer is said to be non-authoritative because it is provided by the local DNS, not the DNS associated with the domain.

To change the request type, use the set directive and append the preferred option. The following example sets the type for all further requests to ns. This instructs the nslookup utility to request information about the name servers used within the domain.

set type=ns

When nslookup sends another query about the domain, a list of nameservers is retrieved.

wikipedia.org

Server:		127.0.0.53
Address:	127.0.0.53#53

Non-authoritative answer:
wikipedia.org	nameserver = ns0.wikimedia.org.
wikipedia.org	nameserver = ns1.wikimedia.org.
wikipedia.org	nameserver = ns2.wikimedia.org.

Authoritative answers can be found from:

To exit interactive mode, use the exit keyword.

exit

Using nslookup Non-interactively

nslookup can also be used in non-interactive mode, in the same way as other Linux commands. To use the nslookup command non-interactively, use the format nslookup [options] domain_name. The command returns the same information it did in interactive mode. This is the correct mode to use in scripts and applications requiring accurate DNS information.

To display basic information about a domain, enter the nslookup command and the name of the domain. This example displays the “A” records for the domain. An “A” record lists the IP addresses for a web host.

nslookup wikipedia.org

Server:		127.0.0.53
Address:	127.0.0.53#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:	wikipedia.org
Address: 91.198.174.192
Name:	wikipedia.org
Address: 2620:0:862:ed1a::1

To validate the results on a different DNS server, append the name of the server to the end of the command. This example requests the IP address of wikipedia.org directly from a Wikipedia name server. The response contains the authoritative answer for the domain.

nslookup wikipedia.org ns0.wikimedia.org

Server:		ns0.wikimedia.org
Address:	208.80.154.238#53

Name:	wikipedia.org
Address: 91.198.174.192
Name:	wikipedia.org
Address: 2620:0:862:ed1a::1

nslookup Examples

Although users are most often searching for nameserver and IP address information, nslookup provides access to all DNS records. This section includes examples showing how to use nslookup to obtain more detailed DNS information.

Specify the type of record to search for using the type option. Add the option -type=option_type directly after the nslookup directive and before any domain name. Replace option_type with the name of the record type. For instance, to view the nameservers for a domain, use -type=ns. The following example displays nameserver information for wikipedia.org.

nslookup -type=ns  wikipedia.org

Server:		127.0.0.53
Address:	127.0.0.53#53

Non-authoritative answer:
wikipedia.org	nameserver = ns0.wikimedia.org.
wikipedia.org	nameserver = ns1.wikimedia.org.
wikipedia.org	nameserver = ns2.wikimedia.org.

Authoritative answers can be found from:

To view mail server information for a domain, set the type to mx.

nslookup -type=mx  wikipedia.org

Server:		127.0.0.53
Address:	127.0.0.53#53

Non-authoritative answer:
wikipedia.org	mail exchanger = 10 mx1001.wikimedia.org.
wikipedia.org	mail exchanger = 10 mx2001.wikimedia.org.

Authoritative answers can be found from:

nslookup can also retrieve the official Start of Authority (SOA) record, containing vital information about the domain. This information includes the email address of the administrator and DNS parameters such as refresh time. Use -type=soa to search for this information.

nslookup -type=soa wikipedia.org

Server:		127.0.0.53
Address:	127.0.0.53#53

Non-authoritative answer:
wikipedia.org
    origin = ns0.wikimedia.org
    mail addr = hostmaster.wikimedia.org
    serial = 2022030414
    refresh = 43200
    retry = 7200
    expire = 1209600
    minimum = 3600

Authoritative answers can be found from:

It is often useful to compare SOA records between sites. The SOA record for amazon.com has much lower refresh and retry numbers, suggesting the domain information might change more frequently.

nslookup -type=soa amazon.com

Server:		127.0.0.53
Address:	127.0.0.53#53

Non-authoritative answer:
amazon.com
    origin = dns-external-master.amazon.com
    mail addr = root.amazon.com
    serial = 2010161662
    refresh = 180
    retry = 60
    expire = 3024000
    minimum = 60

Authoritative answers can be found from:

The TXT records are used to validate domain information. Use -type=txt to retrieve this information.

nslookup -type=txt wikipedia.org

Server:		127.0.0.53
Address:	127.0.0.53#53

Non-authoritative answer:
wikipedia.org	text = "google-site-verification=AMHkgs-4ViEvIJf5znZle-BSE2EPNFqM1nDJGRyn2qk"
wikipedia.org	text = "yandex-verification: 35c08d23099dc863"
wikipedia.org	text = "v=spf1 include:wikimedia.org ~all"

Authoritative answers can be found from:

Use the option -type=any to view the full DNS records for a domain.

nslookup -type=any google.com


Server:		127.0.0.53
Address:	127.0.0.53#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:	google.com
Address: 216.58.212.206
Name:	google.com
Address: 2a00:1450:4009:81e::200e
google.com	mail exchanger = 10 smtp.google.com.
google.com	nameserver = ns4.google.com.
google.com	nameserver = ns3.google.com.
google.com	nameserver = ns1.google.com.
google.com	nameserver = ns2.google.com.

Authoritative answers can be found from:
Note
Some domains are not configured to return all information in response to this request, and only return the name servers. In this case, you must request each type of record separately.

It’s also possible to ask for information about a particular name server. Use nslookup and the name of the domain, along with the canonical name of the name server. This example demonstrates how to find out details about Wikipedia’s ns0.wikimedia.org name server.

nslookup wikipedia.org ns0.wikimedia.org

Server:		ns0.wikimedia.org
Address:	208.80.154.238#53

Name:	wikipedia.org
Address: 91.198.174.192
Name:	wikipedia.org
Address: 2620:0:862:ed1a::1

To debug the information from nslookup, use the -debug flag. Debug mode displays the queries sent to the DNS server along with the replies received in response.

nslookup -debug wikipedia.org

Server:		127.0.0.53
Address:	127.0.0.53#53

------------
    QUESTIONS:
    wikipedia.org, type = A, class = IN
    ANSWERS:
    ->  wikipedia.org
    internet address = 91.198.174.192
    ttl = 600
    AUTHORITY RECORDS:
    ADDITIONAL RECORDS:
------------
Non-authoritative answer:
Name:	wikipedia.org
Address: 91.198.174.192
------------
    QUESTIONS:
    wikipedia.org, type = AAAA, class = IN
    ANSWERS:
    ->  wikipedia.org
    has AAAA address 2620:0:862:ed1a::1
    ttl = 600
    AUTHORITY RECORDS:
    ADDITIONAL RECORDS:
------------
Name: wikipedia.org
Address: 2620:0:862:ed1a::1

For more information on the list of available nslookup options, consult the Linux man page .

Note
Most DNS requests are sent and received using TCP port 53. To request DNS information from a different port, use the -port flag, for example nslookup -port=55 wikipedia.org. In most cases DNS servers are configured to refuse these requests, resulting in the error message communications error to 127.0.0.53#55: connection refused.

How to Use nslookup for Reverse Lookups

Although nslookup can find the IP address for a domain, it can also reveal the domain mapped to an IP address. This is referred to as a reverse DNS lookup. To perform a reverse lookup, apply the nslookup command to the IP address under investigation. The following example illustrates how to find the domain that is mapped to the address 91.198.174.192.

Note
The output displays the IP address in reverse order, so 91.198.174.192 is transposed to 192.174.198.91 in the display. The octets are presented in reverse order due to complex technical reasons involving the in-addr.arpa domain tree specification.
nslookup 91.198.174.192

192.174.198.91.in-addr.arpa	name = text-lb.esams.wikimedia.org.

Authoritative answers can be found from:

A second alternative is to use the -type=ptr option and the address in reverse order to find the domain. The pointer record confirms the domain owns the address in question.

nslookup -type=ptr 192.174.198.91.in-addr.arpa

Server:		127.0.0.53
Address:	127.0.0.53#53

Non-authoritative answer:
192.174.198.91.in-addr.arpa	name = text-lb.esams.wikimedia.org.

Authoritative answers can be found from:

Conclusion

The nslookup command is used to discover DNS information about a domain. It can work in either interactive or non-interactive mode, and is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows servers. nslookup can return the IP address for a domain, along with information about its nameservers, mail servers, and State of Authority record. It can also handle reverse DNS lookups for translating an IP address into a domain. For more information, see the Linux nslookup man page .

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

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