nslookup linux command

nslookup

nslookup [-option] [host_to_find | [server ]]

TCP/IP command. Query Internet domain name servers. nslookup has two modes: interactive and noninteractive. 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. It is entered either when no arguments are given (default name server will be used) or when the first argument is a hyphen and the second argument is the hostname or Internet address of a name server. Noninteractive mode is used to print just the name and requested information for a host or domain. It is used when the name of the host to be looked up is given as the first argument. Any of the keyword=value pairs listed under the interactive set command can be used as an option on the command line by prefacing the keyword with a -. The optional second argument specifies a name server.

Options

All of the options under the set interactive command can be entered on the command line, with the syntax -keyword[=value].

Interactive commands

exit

Exit nslookup.

finger [name] [>|>>filename]

Connect with finger server on current host, optionally creating or appending to filename.

help, ?

Print a brief summary of commands.

host [server]

Look up information for host using the current default server or using server if specified.

ls -[ahd] domain [>|>>filename]

List information available for domain, optionally creating or appending to filename. The -a option lists aliases of hosts in the domain. -h lists CPU and operating system information for the domain. -d lists all contents of a zone transfer.

lserver domain

Change the default server to domain. Use the initial server to look up information about domain.

root

Change default server to the server for the root of the domain namespace.

server domain

Change the default server to domain. Use the current default server to look up information about domain.

set keyword[=value]

Change state information affecting the lookups. Valid keywords are:

all

Print the current values of the frequently used options to set.

class=name

Set query class to IN (Internet), CHAOS, HESIOD, or ANY. Default is IN.

domain=name

Change default domain name to name.

[no]debug

Turn debugging mode on or off.

[no]d2

Turn exhaustive debugging mode on or off.

[no]defname

Append default domain name to every lookup.

[no]ignoretc

Ignore truncate error.

[no]recurse

Tell name server to query or not query other servers if it does not have the information.

[no]search

With defname, search for each name in parent domains of current domain.

[no]vc

Always use a virtual circuit when sending requests to the server.

port=port

Connect to name server using port.

querytype=value

See type=value.

retry=number

Set number of retries to number.

root=host

Change name of root server to host.

srchlist=domain

Set search list to domain.

timeout=number

Change timeout interval for waiting for a reply to number seconds.

type=value

Change type of information returned from a query to one of:

view filename

Sort and list output of previous ls command(s) with more.