When we surf the Internet, we can use multiple tools to carry out tests, check that everything works correctly and analyze the network. There are them for all types of operating systems and devices. In this article we are going to talk about what NsLookUp is and what we can use this program for.
NsLookUp, a tool to check if DNS works
As we know, the Internet is made up of different communication networks that are interconnected, protocols and characteristics that allow us to navigate. A very important part is DNS . It is the acronym in English for domain name system. It is basically a translator of domain names into IP addresses. In other words, we don’t need to put an IP address and therefore have to remember numbers, when we want to enter sites like this article, where we only have to put the domain name.
An IP address refers to a computer where that web page is hosted. The DNS is responsible for translating the information. However, sometimes problems can arise. This resolution of domain names may not act as it should and we have to use a tool to help us analyze its operation and possible problems.
NsLookUp is a free tool that we can use on Windows, Linux and macOS . It is used to resolve IP addresses associated with a domain. Through a command we can obtain the IP address if we know the name or on the contrary, know the IP address if we know the domain name.
But beyond knowing the name or IP address it also serves to solve name resolution problems and check the current status of the servers.
Note that NsLookUp is a command line tool. It is available for different operating systems, as we have seen. We can use it in Windows 10, which is currently the most used on desktop computers. It is very easy to use and does not involve any complications.
Another point to note is that we will not need to install anything. NsLookUp is already pre-installed on the main operating systems such as Windows, Linux or macOS.
How to use NsLookUp
Making use of this tool in Windows 10 is very easy. The first thing we have to do is open the command line. To do this we go to Start, write CDM and execute the Command Prompt with administrator permissions.
Once we are inside we can execute the command. For example we are going to test with NsLookUp itigic.com.
We will see that different data appear. The first one is Server. It indicates the name of the DNS server that the tool will use to make the queries. Next is Address, which is the IP address of that DNS server that we are using.
Below we will see “Non-authoritative response” . This means that the DNS response came from a DNS server that caches a copy of the queries made. With Name it indicates the name of the domain we are looking for and with Address the addresses that correspond to that domain.
To get the reverse resolution , to know which domain or server an address points to, we simply have to run nslookup IP_address.
We can also use NsLookUp in interactive mode . In this case we simply execute the nslookup command.
With this command, it shows us the DNS server that we are using to make the queries, as well as its IP address. Below we can run different queries to obtain information.
We can use the different options:
- set type = A , to find A records.
- set type = PTR , to search for reverse records.
- set type = MX , to find the Mail Exchange records of the mail.
- set type = TXT , to search for text records such as SPF or DKIM.
- set type = CNAME , to search for domain aliases.
For example, if we execute set type = CNAME we would obtain what appears in the image below.
We can also obtain all the information available from a domain. In this case we have to execute set debug and they will show us all the data.
In short, these are some uses that we can give to the NsLookUp tool. As we can see, it is very easy to use and is available in Windows 10 without having to install anything else.