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nslookup(1)							   nslookup(1)

Name
       nslookup - interactively query servers running BIND, or BIND and Hesiod
       together

Syntax
       /usr/ucb/nslookup [ host ][ server ]
       /usr/ucb/nslookup [ - ][ server ]

Description
       The command queries the BIND/Hesiod  servers.   This  command  has  two
       modes: interactive and non-interactive.	Interactive mode allows you to
       query the BIND/Hesiod server for information about  various  hosts  and
       domains.	  Non-interactive  mode allows you to obtain just the name and
       Internet address of a host or domain.

       Use interactive mode if you have no  arguments  to  provide.   In  this
       case, queries the default BIND/Hesiod server.  To specify a BIND/Hesiod
       server to query, the first argument should be a dash (-) and the second
       argument should be the name of the server.

       Use  non-interactive  mode when the name of the host you are looking up
       is the first  argument.	 The  optional	second	argument  specifies  a
       BIND/Hesiod  server.   If you do not supply a second argument, the cur‐
       rent BIND/Hesiod server is queried.

       To terminate the command from within interactive mode, press  <CTRL/D>.
       To terminate only the current lookup activity, press <CTRL/C>.

Non-interactive Options
       host [server]
	    The	 host option is the name of the host for which you are looking
	    up information.  If you do	not  specify  a	 server,  the  default
	    server  is	queried.  You can specify the server by either name or
	    IP address.

       -  [server]
	    The - option returns the  name  and	 IP  address  of  the  default
	    server, or the server you specify.	It then places you in interac‐
	    tive mode.	If you do not specify a server, the default server  is
	    queried.  You can specify the server by either name or IP address.

Interactive Options
       The  command line length must be less than 80 characters.  Any unrecog‐
       nized command is interpreted as a host name.   The  following  are  the
       standard options:

       host [server]
	    Looks  up information for host using the current default server or
	    using server if it is specified.

       server server
	    Changes the default server to the server specified.	  This	option
	    uses the current default server.

       lserver server
	    Changes  the  default server to the server specified.  This option
	    uses the initial default server to look up information  about  the
	    server specified.

       root Changes  the  default  server  to  the  server for the root of the
	    domain name space specified.  Currently, the  host	ns.nic.ddn.mil
	    is used.

       finger [ name ] [ > [ > ] file ]
	    Connects  with the finger server on the current host.  The current
	    host is defined when a previous lookup for a host  was  successful
	    and	 returned  address  information.   See the set querytype=value
	    command.  The name field is optional; but if used, it specifies  a
	    user name.	You can use the > and >> options to redirect output to
	    the file specified.

       ls [ -adhlmst ] domain [ > [ > ] file ]
	    Lists the information available for	 the  domain  specified.   The
	    default output contains host names and their Internet addresses.

	    -a	      Lists aliases of hosts in the domain, CNAME entries.

	    -d	      Lists all entries in the domain.

	    -h	      Lists  CPU  and  operating  system  information  for the
		      domain, HINFO entries.

	    -l	      Same as -d.

	    -m	      Lists mail exchangers in the domain, MX entries.

	    -s	      Lists well known services in the domain, WKS entries.

	    -t	      Lists Hesiod text information, TXT entries.

	    If you redirect the output to a file, hash marks are  printed  for
	    every 50 records received from the server.

       view file
	    Sorts and lists the output of the command with the command.

       help or ?
	    Print a brief summary of the commands and options.

       set keyword[=value]
	    Changes  the  set options that affect the lookups, except for key‐
	    words and which display information.  Valid keywords are:

	    all	      Prints the current values of the options you can set, as
		      well as information about the current default server.

	    ALL	      Prints the current values of the options you can set, as
		      well as information about the  current  default  server.
		      In  addition,  the  ALL  option  prints the server state
		      information.

	    [no]debug Turns on debugging mode.	Verbose information is printed
		      about  the  packet  sent to the server and the resulting
		      answer.

		      The default is nodebug , which  you  can	abbreviate  to
		      [no]deb.

	    [no]defname
		      Appends  the  default  domain name to every lookup.  The
		      default  is  nodefname,  which  you  can	abbreviate  to
		      [no]def.

	    [no]recurse
		      Tells  the  BIND/Hesiod server to query other servers if
		      it does  not  have  the  information.   The  default  is
		      recurse, and the abbreviation is [no]rec.

	    [no]vc    Uses  a  TCP  connection	when  sending  requests to the
		      server.  The default is novc, and	 the  abbreviation  is
		      [no]v.

	    domain=name
		      Changes the default domain to the domain name specified.
		      The default  domain  name	 is  appended  to  all	lookup
		      requests	if  the	 defname  option  is set.  The default
		      value is set in the file, which you  can	abbreviate  to
		      do.

	    class=value
		      Changes  the  class of information returned from a query
		      to one of the following values:

		      IN	Internet (default)

		      HS	Hesiod

		      ANY	any

		      The abbreviation for the class option is cl.

	    querytype=value
		      Changes the type of information returned from a query to
		      value.   The following is a list of the most common val‐
		      ues:

		      A		host Internet address (default)

		      CNAME	canonical name for an alias

		      MX	mail exchanger

		      NS	name server

		      PTR	host Internet name

		      SOA	Start of authority

		      TXT	A Hesiod data query

		      WKS	A well known service

		      The abbreviation for the querytype option is q.

	    retry=number
		      Sets the number of retries to the number specified.   If
		      a	 reply	to  a request is not received within a certain
		      amount of time (changed with set timeout),  the  request
		      is  resent.   The	 retry value controls how many times a
		      request is to be resent before giving up.	  The  default
		      retry  number  is	 and  the  abbreviation	 for the retry
		      option is ret.

	    root=host Changes the name of the root server  to  the  host  name
		      specified.   This affects the root command.  The default
		      is and the abbreviation is ro.

	    timeout=number
		      Changes the time-out interval for waiting for a reply to
		      the  number  specified  (in seconds).  The default is 10
		      seconds, and the abbreviation for the timeout option  is
		      t.

Tutorial
       The domain name space is tree-structured and has six top-level domains:

       ·    ARPA (for ARPAnet hosts)
	    The	 ARPA domain is currently one of the top-level domains, but is
	    being phased out.

       ·    COM (for commercial establishments)

       ·    EDU (for educational institutions)

       ·    GOV (for government agencies)

       ·    ORG (for not for profit organizations)

       ·    MIL (for MILNET hosts)

       If you are looking for a specific host,	you  need  to  know  something
       about  the  host's  organization	 in  order  to determine the top-level
       domain it belongs to.  For instance, if you want to find	 the  Internet
       address of a host at UCLA, do the following:

       1.   Connect  with the root server, using the command.  The root server
	    of the name space has knowledge of the top-level domains.

       2.   Connect with a server for the domain.  The domain name  for	 UCLA,
	    which  is  a  university,  is To connect with this server, you can
	    type:
	    # nslookup
	    >  server ucla.edu
	    The response is the names of the hosts that act as servers for the
	    domain  Note  that the root server does not have information about
	    but knows the names and addresses of hosts that  do.   All	future
	    queries are sent to the UCLA BIND server.

       3.   Request  information  about	 a  particular host in the domain, for
	    example, To do this, type the host name.  To  request  a  list  of
	    hosts in the UCLA domain, use the command.	The command requires a
	    domain name (in this case, as an argument.

       Note that if you are connected with a BIND  server  that	 handles  more
       than  one  domain,  all	lookups for host names must be fully specified
       with its domain.	 For instance, the domain is served by which also ser‐
       vices  the  and	domains.   A lookup request for the host in the domain
       must be specified as However, you can use the set domain=name  and  set
       defname commands to automatically append a domain name to each request.

       After  a	 successful lookup of a host, use the command to see who is on
       the system or to get information about	a  specific  person.   To  get
       other  information about the host, use the set querytype=value command,
       which allows you to change the type of information obtained and request
       another	lookup.	  The  command requires that the information requested
       information be of type A, a host Internet address.

Hesiod Tutorial
       If you  have set up Hesiod on your ULTRIX system and would like to look
       at  this	 information, you must use the and commands, where value is HS
       and TXT respectively.

       The following example presumes that the database is set up to  be  dis‐
       tributed	 with  BIND/Hesiod.   The  answer received from the command is
       that 128.45 is the network number for the network  named	 in  the  net‐
       works.dec.com domain.
       # nslookup
       Default Server:	localhost.dec.com
       Address:	 127.0.0.1

       > set cl=hs
       > set q=txt
       > ethernet.networks
       Server:	localhost.dec.com
       Address:	 127.0.0.1

       ethernet.networks.dec.com  ethernet:128.45
       >

Diagnostics
       If  the	lookup request was not successful, the command displays one of
       the following error messages:

       Time-out
       The server did not respond to a request after a certain amount of  time
       (changed	 with  set  timeout=value)  and	 a  certain  number of retries
       (changed with set retry=value).

       No information
       Depending on the query type set with  the  set  querytype  command,  no
       information  about  the	host  was available, although the host name is
       valid.

       Non-existent domain
       The host or domain name does not exist.

       Connection refused
       The connection to the BIND/Hesiod server was refused.

       Network is unreachable
       The connection to the BIND/Hesiod server cannot be made at the  current
       time.

       Server failure
       The  BIND/Hesiod server found an internal inconsistency in its database
       and could not return a valid answer.

       Refused
       The BIND/Hesiod server refused to service the request.

       Format error
       The name server found that the request packet was  not  in  the	proper
       format.	Contact your DIGITAL Field Service representative.

Files
       BIND server data file directory

       BIND server boot file

       BIND primary server hosts file

       BIND primary server reverse address hosts file

       BIND server local host reverse address host file

       BIND server cache file

       BIND data file

See Also
       finger(1), more(1), nsquery(1), resolver(3), resolver(5), named(8)
       Guide to the BIND/Hesiod Service

								   nslookup(1)
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