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1 perry 1 ----
2 __NAME__
3
4
5 nslookup - query Internet name servers
6 interactively
7 __SYNOPSIS__
8
9
10 nslookup [[-option ...] [[host-to-find |
11 -[[server]]
12 __DESCRIPTION__
13
14
15 Nslookup is a program to query Internet domain name servers.
16 Nslookup has two modes: interactive and non-interactive.
17 Interactive mode allows the user to query name servers for
18 information about various hosts and domains or to print a
19 list of hosts in a domain. Non-interactive mode is used to
20 print just the name and requested information for a host or
21 domain.
22 __ARGUMENTS__
23
24
25 Interactive mode is entered in the following
26 cases:
27 a)
28
29
30 when no arguments are given (the default name serverwill be used),b)when the first argument is a hyphen (-) and the secondargument is the host name or Internet address of a nameserver.Non-interactive mode is used when the name or Internetaddress of the host to be looked up is given as the firstargument. The optional second argument specifies the hostname or address of a name server.The options listed under the ``set'' command below can be specified in the .nslookuprc file in the user's home direc- tory if they are listed one per line. Options can also be specified on the command line if they precede the arguments and are prefixed with a hyphen. For example, to change the default query type to host information, and the initial timeout to 10 seconds, type:
31
32
33 nslookup -query=hinfo -timeout=10
34 __INTERACTIVE COMMANDS__
35
36
37 Commands may be interrupted at any time by typing a con-
38 trol-C. To exit, type a control-D (EOF) or type
39 exit. The command line length must be less than 256
40 characters. To treat a built-in command as a host name,
41 precede it with an escape character (.N.B.:__
42 unrecognized command will be interpreted as a host
43 name.
44 host [[server]
45
46
47 Look up information for host using the currentdefault server or using server, if specified. Ifhost is an Internet address and the query type is A or PTR, the name of the host is returned. If host is a name and does not have a trailing period, the default domain name is appended to the name. (This behavior depends on the state of the set options domain, srchlist, defname, and search.)
48
49
50 To look up a host not in the current domain, append a period
51 to the name.
52
53
54 server domain
55
56
57 lserver domain
58 Change the default server to domain; lserver uses the
59 initial server to look up information about domain, while
60 server uses the current default server. If an authoritative
61 answer can't be found, the names of servers that might have
62 the answer are returned.
63
64
65 root
66 Changes the default server to the server for the root of the
67 domain name space. Currently, the host
68 ns.internic.net is used. (This command is a synonym
69 for ``lserver ns.internic.net''.) The name of the root
70 server can be changed with the ``set root''
71 command.
72
73
74 finger [[name] [[
75
76
77 finger [[name] [[
78 Connects with the finger server on the current host. The
79 current host is defined when a previous lookup for a host
80 was successful and returned address information (see the
81 ``set querytype=A'' command). The name is optional.
82
83
84 ls [[option] domain [[
85
86
87 ls [[option] domain [[
88 List the information available for domain, option- ally
89 creating or appending to filename. The default output
90 contains host names and their Internet addresses. Option can
91 be one of the following:
92
93
94 -t querytype
95 lists all records of the specified type (see querytype
96 below).
97
98
99 -a
100 lists aliases of hosts in the domain; synonym for ``-t
101 CNAME''.
102
103
104 -d
105 lists all records for the domain; synonym for ``-t
106 ANY''.
107
108
109 -h
110 lists CPU and operating system information for the domain;
111 synonym for ``-t HINFO''.
112
113
114 -s
115 lists well-known services of hosts in the domain; synonym
116 for ``-t WKS''.
117
118
119 When output is directed to a file, hash marks are printed
120 for every 50 records received from the server.
121
122
123 view filename
124 Sorts and lists the output of previous ls command(s) with
125 more(1).
126
127
128 help
129
130
131 ?
132 Prints a brief summary of commands.
133
134
135 exit
136 Exits the program.
137
138
139 set
140 keyword[[=value]
141 This command is used to change state information that
142 affects the lookups. Valid keywords are:
143
144
145 all
146 Prints the current values of the fre- quently-used options
147 to set. Information about the current default server and
148 host is also printed.
149
150
151 class=value
152 Change the query class to one of:
153
154
155 IN
156 the Internet class
157
158
159 CHAOS
160 the Chaos class
161
162
163 HESIOD
164 the MIT Athena Hesiod class
165
166
167 ANY
168 wildcard (any of the above)
169
170
171 The class specifies the protocol group of the
172 information.
173
174
175 (Default = IN; abbreviation = cl)
176
177
178 [[
179 no]debug
180 Turn debugging mode on. A lot more informa- tion is printed
181 about the packet sent to the server and the resulting
182 answer.
183
184
185 (Default = nodebug; abbreviation = [[
186 no]deb)
187
188
189 [[
190 no]d2
191 Turn exhaustive debugging mode on. Essen- tially all fields
192 of every packet are printed.
193
194
195 (Default = nod2)
196
197
198 domain=name
199 Change the default domain name to name. The default domain
200 name is appended to a lookup request depending on the state
201 of the defname and search options. The domain search list
202 contains the parents of the default domain if it has at
203 least two compo- nents in its name. For example, if the
204 default domain is CC.Berkeley.EDU, the search list is
205 CC.Berkeley.EDU and Berke- ley.EDU. Use the ``set srchlist''
206 command to specify a different list. Use the ``set all''
207 command to display the list.
208
209
210 (Default = value from hostname(1),
211 /etc/resolv.conf, or LOCALDOMAIN;
212 abbrevia- tion = do)
213
214
215 srchlist=name1/name2/...
216 Change the default domain name to name1 and the domain
217 search list to name1, name2, etc. A maximum of 6 names
218 separated by slashes (/) can be specified. For
219 example,
220
221
222 set srchlist=lcs.MIT.EDU/ai.MIT.EDU/MIT.EDU
223 sets the domain to lcs.MIT.EDU and the search list to the three names. This com- mand overrides the default domain name and search list of the ``set domain'' command. Use the ``set all'' command to display the list.
224
225
226 (Default = value based on hostname(1),
227 /etc/resolv.conf, or LOCALDOMAIN;
228 abbrevia- tion = srchl)
229 [[ no]defname
230
231
232 If set, append the default domain name to asingle-component lookup request (i.e., onethat does not contain a period).(Default = defname; abbreviation = [[ no]defname) [[ no]search
233 If the lookup request contains at least oneperiod but '' doesn't'' end with a trailingperiod, append the domain names in thedomain search list to the request until ananswer is received.(Default = search; abbreviation = [[ no]sea) port=value Change the default TCP/UDP name server portto value.(Default = 53; abbreviation = po) querytype=value type=value Change the type of information query to oneof: Athe host's Internet address.
234
235
236 CNAME
237 the canonical name for an alias.
238
239
240 HINFO
241 the host CPU and operating system type.
242
243
244 MINFO
245 the mailbox or mail list informa- tion.
246
247
248 MX
249 the mail exchanger.
250
251
252 NS
253 the name server for the named zone.
254
255
256 PTR
257 the host name if the query is an Internet address;
258 otherwise, the pointer to other information.
259
260
261 SOA
262 the domain's ``start-of-authority''
263 information.
264
265
266 TXT
267 the text information.
268
269
270 UINFO
271 the user information.
272
273
274 WKS
275 the supported well-known services.
276
277
278 Other types (ANY, AXFR, MB,
279 MD, MF, NULL) are described in
280 the RFC-1035 document.
281
282
283 (Default = A; abbreviations = q, ty)
284
285
286 [[
287 no]recurse
288 Tell the name server to query other servers if it does not
289 have the information.
290
291
292 (Default = recurse; abbreviation = [[
293 no]rec)
294
295
296 retry=number
297 Set the number of retries to number. When a reply to a
298 request is not received within a certain amount of time
299 (changed with ``set timeout''), the timeout period is
300 doubled and the request is resent. The retry value controls
301 how many times a request is resent before giving
302 up.
303
304
305 (Default = 4, abbreviation = ret)
306
307
308 root=host
309 Change the name of the root server to host. This affects the
310 ``root'' command.
311
312
313 (Default = ns.internic.net.; abbreviation = ro)
314
315
316 timeout=number
317 Change the initial timeout interval for waiting for a reply
318 to number seconds. Each retry doubles the timeout
319 period.
320
321
322 (Default = 5 seconds; abbreviation = ti)
323
324
325 [[
326 no]vc
327 Always use a virtual circuit when sending requests to the
328 server.
329
330
331 (Default = novc; abbreviation = [[
332 no]v)
333
334
335 [[
336 no]ignoretc
337 Ignore packet truncation errors.
338
339
340 (Default = noignoretc; abbreviation = [[
341 no]ig)
342
343
344 __DIAGNOSTICS__
345
346
347 If the lookup request was not successful, an error message
348 is printed. Possible errors are:
349 Timed out
350
351
352 The server did not respond to a request after a cer- tain
353 amount of time (changed with ``set timeout=value'') and a
354 certain number of retries (changed with ``
355 set retry=value
356 '').
357
358
359 No response from server
360 No name server is running on the server
361 machine.
362
363
364 No records
365 The server does not have resource records of the cur- rent
366 query type for the host, although the host name is valid.
367 The query type is specified with the ``set querytype''
368 command.
369
370
371 Non-existent domain
372 The host or domain name does not exist.
373
374
375 Connection refused
376
377
378 Network is unreachable
379 The connection to the name or finger server could not be
380 made at the current time. This error commonly occurs with ls
381 and finger requests.
382
383
384 Server failure
385 The name server found an internal inconsistency in its
386 database and could not return a valid answer.
387
388
389 Refused
390 The name server refused to service the request.
391
392
393 Format error
394 The name server found that the request packet was not in the
395 proper format. It may indicate an error in
396 nslookup.
397
398
399 __FILES__
400 /etc/resolv.conf
401 initial domain name and name server
402 addresses
403
404
405 $HOME/.nslookuprc
406 user's initial options
407 /usr/share/misc/nslookup.help
408 summary of commands
409
410
411 __ENVIRONMENT__
412 HOSTALIASES
413 file containing host
414 aliases
415
416
417 LOCALDOMAIN
418 overrides default domain
419
420
421 __SEE ALSO__
422
423
424 named(8), resolver(3),
425 resolver(5); RFC-1034, ``Domain Names - Concepts
426 and Facilities''; RFC-1035, ``Domain Names - Implementation
427 and Specification''.
428 __AUTHOR__
429
430
431 Andrew Cherenson
432
433
434 4th Berkeley Distribution June 24, 1990 1
435 ----
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