Nslookup

nslookup — Query Internet domain name servers for information.

Synopsis

nslookup [options] [domain_name]

Description The nslookup command is a network administration tool used for querying Domain Name System (DNS) servers to obtain domain name or IP address mapping, and other DNS records. It is widely used to troubleshoot DNS-related issues and to gather information about domain names and IP addresses.

Basic Usage

nslookup [domain_name]

This basic usage queries the default DNS server for information about the specified domain (e.g., example.com) and returns the IP address associated with it.

For example:

nslookup example.com

Options

• [domain_name]

  • The domain name for which you wish to look up information. If omitted, nslookup will query the default DNS server and provide information on its configuration.

• server [DNS_server]

  • Specifies a particular DNS server to query instead of using the default server.

  nslookup example.com 8.8.8.8

  This will query Google's DNS server (8.8.8.8) for the domain example.com.

• -type=record_type

  • Specifies the type of DNS record to query. Common types include:

    • A: Address record (IPv4 address)

    • AAAA: Address record (IPv6 address)

    • MX: Mail Exchange record

    • CNAME: Canonical Name record

    • NS: Name Server record

    • PTR: Pointer record (reverse DNS)

    • TXT: Additional data used for domain verification purpose

    • SOA: Statement of Authority records of the target domains.

  nslookup -type=MX example.com

  This will return the mail server information for example.com.

• -timeout=seconds

  • Sets the time to wait for a response from the DNS server before timing out.

  nslookup -timeout=10 example.com

• -debug

  • Displays detailed information about the query, including the server response and intermediate steps.

  nslookup -debug example.com

• -retry=n

  • Specifies the number of retry attempts if the DNS server fails to respond.

  nslookup -retry=3 example.com

• -port=port_number

  • Specifies a custom port for the DNS server to use.

  nslookup -port=53 example.com

• set [option]

  • This is used to modify the behavior of nslookup for the current session. Some common set options include:

    • set type=record_type: Changes the type of record to query (e.g., set type=MX).

    • set querytype=record_type: Equivalent to -type=record_type.

    • set debug: Enables debugging output.

    • set port=port_number: Sets a custom DNS server port.

    • set timeout=seconds: Adjusts the query timeout.

  Example:

  nslookup
  > set type=MX
  > example.com

DNS ZONE TRANSFER

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Perform DNS Enumeration using Zone Transfer

## DNS Zone transfer using Dig
    dig ns [Target Domain]
    dig @[NameServer] [Target Domain] axfr 

## DNS Zone transfer using Nslookup
    nslookup <interactive mode to be used>
        set querytype=soa
        ls -d [Name Server]

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NSLOOKUP ON WEB : http://www.kloth.net/services/nslookup.php