The disgusting and useless nslookup

[Michael Kjorling]

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I don't get this. Isn't host included with BIND?

That's what I use a lot of the times - even though of course there is
a time to use dig as well. And the output is fairly straightforward
and definitely not indecipherable.
Looking up my own IP address gives:

> [michael at varg michael]$ host 213.88.216.209
> 209.216.88.213.in-addr.arpa. is an alias for 209.208-29.216.88.213.in-addr.arpa.
> 209.208-29.216.88.213.in-addr.arpa. domain name pointer varg.mcpoolen.se.
> [michael at varg michael]$

And a host:

> [michael at varg michael]$ host www.isc.org
> www.isc.org. is an alias for isc.org.
> isc.org. has address 204.152.184.101
> [michael at varg michael]$

Using a different name server:

> [michael at varg michael]$ host www.isc.org ulv
> Using domain server:
> Name: ulv
> Address: 192.168.1.11#53
> Aliases:
>
> www.isc.org. is an alias for isc.org.
> isc.org. has address 204.152.184.101
> [michael at varg michael]$

Search lists are also applied properly, at least on Linux:

> [michael at varg michael]$ host ulv
> ulv.wolfpack. has address 192.168.1.11
> [michael at varg michael]$

Where is the real problem?


Michael Kjörling


On May 26 2001 13:38 -0400, Chip Old wrote:

> On Sat, 26 May 2001, Thor Kottelin wrote:
>
> > For e.g. phone support, nslookup is obviously nevertheless the only
> > game in town, not only because of its prevalence, but also due to its
> > simplicity. Even if you could remotely drop dig.exe into the luser's
> > %PATH%, the output of dig would probably prove very confusing to
> > someone who called you because he/she didn't understand DNS in the
> > first place.
>
> I agree.  While dig is is vastly superior diagnostic tool for the
> experienced DNS administrator, most of its output is meaningless to most
> people including the average Help Desk technician dealing with dial-up
> customers.  A simpler tool like nslookup still has its place, and for that
> reason I'm not happy to hear that it may be dropped from future BIND
> distributions.

- -- 
Michael Kjörling - michael at kjorling.com - PGP: 8A70E33E
"We must be the change we wish to see" (Mahatma Gandhi)

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