Technical data

nslookup
nslookup
Queries Internet name servers interactively.
Format
nslookup [-option ...] [host_to_find |-[server]]
Description
The nslookup command is a program that is used to query Internet domain name
servers. The nslookup command has two modes: noninteractive and interactive.
Note
The nslookup utility is deprecated. HP recommends that you use the dig
utility instead. For information about the dig utility, see the HP TCP/IP
Services for OpenVMS Management guide.
Noninteractive mode
Noninteractive mode is used to display just the name and requested information
for a host or domain. Noninteractive mode is invoked when the name or Internet
address of the host to be looked up is given as the first argument. The optional
second argument specifies the host name or address of a name server.
Interactive mode
Interactive mode allows the user to query name servers for information about
various hosts and domains or to display a list of hosts in a domain. Interactive
mode is invoked when you specify
nslookup without arguments (the default name
server will be used), or when the first argument you specify is a hyphen (-) and
the second argument is the host name or IP address of a name server.
The options listed under the set command can be specified in the .nslookuprc
file in the user’s home directory 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 time out to 10 seconds, enter the following command:
$ nslookup -query=hinfo -timeout=10
Interactive commands
Commands can be interrupted at any time by pressing Ctrl/C. To exit, press
Ctrl/D (EOF) or type exit . The command line length must be less than 256
characters. To treat a built-in command as a host name, prefix it with an escape
character (^) plus a backslash (\). Note that an unrecognized command will be
interpreted as a host name.
Commands
host [server]
Looks up information for the host using either the current default server or the
specified server. If host is an IP 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 .)
A–22 Troubleshooting Utilities Reference