How to Perform DNS Lookup

How to Perform DNS Lookup: DNS stands for Domain Name System. Sometimes a Domain Name Server or a Domain Number System is also called DNS. DNS makes it easier for us to use the Internet. Every site we go to has a domain name and an IP address that go with it. Most of the time, we use the website’s domain name instead of trying to remember the IP address, such as 875.89.565.55. Think of DNS as a translator.

It acts as a bridge between human language and machine language, so we don’t have to remember a long list of numbers to use the internet and machines don’t have to try to figure out what we’re saying. DNS is sometimes called the Internet’s phone book because it is a huge database of IP addresses that are called up when a domain name is typed.

Once the IP address for the right domain name has been found, we can look at the data in our browser. We’d type IP addresses into our browsers to get to sites, but that’s not very useful. If there’s a DNS error, the site might not load or load slowly while the DNS server looks for the right IP address.

How to Perform DNS Lookup

DNS Trace Test

Dotcom-Monitor has a free DNS Trace Test that you can use online, simply by entering the host (your domain name) and which locations you would like to test from. This tool queries the root servers to find DNS lookup records detailing the path taken to retrieve the record. In the results you will find:

• Time it takes to receive a response from each node along the path
• Answers returned from each node, for example:
  • The result header contains general information about the test performed while the data in the tree shown below contains details about the actual DNS trace.

Name Server Lookup

Want to perform a name server lookup? If so, then there are a few steps you can take to perform this action:

• Go to your Command Prompt and use the line: nslookup
• After this command, enter the IP Address for Domain Name you wish to lookup.
• Press Enter

Reverse Lookup

Are you trying to find a way to perform a reverse lookup? This method is typically used when the domain uses an IP Address, rather than a standard wwww.mydomain.com format. To perform a reverse DNS lookup, follow these easy steps:

• Access Command Prompt and type: Command
• Press Enter
• The resulting black box is where you’ll type: ping-a IP ADDRESS (replace “IP ADDRESS” with the numerical address you wish to investigate)
• Press Enter
• The resulting information is all available data that’s connected with the IP Address you entered.

Host DNS Lookup

This is one of the easiest tools you can use when attempting to locate more information about a specific IP Address. It’s capable of performing full translation of domains and IP Addresses, as well as detail current name servers for the website and email servers. To perform this type of lookup, perform the following steps:

• Access your Command Line (as in previous steps)
• Type the following in black text field: host-t a domain.com (input the domain name you wish to investigate where DOMAIN.COM is written)
• The following information will reveal the IP Address for the domain you entered
• To lookup the mail server, type the following in the Command Line: $host -t mx domain.com (make sure to replace DOMAIN.COM as in the previous step)
• Press Enter

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