


DNSQUERY(1)                                           DNSQUERY(1)


NAME
       dnsquery - query domain name servers using resolver

SYNOPSIS
       dnsquery  [-n  nameserver] [-t type] [-c class] [-r retry]
       [-p retry_period] [-d] [-s] [-v] host

DESCRIPTION
       The dnsquery program is a general interface to nameservers
       via  BIND  resolver  library  calls.  The program supports
       queries to the nameserver with an opcode of  QUERY.   This
       program  is  intended to be a replacement or supplement to
       programs like nstest, nsquery and nslookup.  All arguments
       except  for host and ns are treated without case-sensitiv-
       ity.

OPTIONS
       -n        The nameserver to be used in the  query.   Name-
                 servers  can appear as either Internet addresses
                 of the form w.x.y.z  or  can  appear  as  domain
                 names.      (default:     as     specified    in
                 /etc/resolv.conf)

       -t        The type of resource record of interest.   Types
                 include:

                      A         address
                      NS        nameserver
                      CNAME     canonical name
                      PTR       domain name pointer
                      SOA       start of authority
                      WKS       well-known service
                      HINFO     host information
                      MINFO     mailbox information
                      MX        mail exchange
                      RP        responsible person
                      MG        mail group member
                      AFSDB
                                DCE or AFS server
                      ANY       wildcard

                 Note that any case may be used.  (default:  ANY)

       -c        The  class  of  resource  records  of  interest.
                 Classes include:

                           IN        Internet
                           HS        Hesiod
                           CHAOS     Chaos
                           ANY       wildcard

                 Note that any case may be used.  (default:  IN)

       -r        The  number  of times to retry if the nameserver



                          10 March 1990                         1





DNSQUERY(1)                                           DNSQUERY(1)


                 is not responding.  (default:  4)

       -p        Period to wait  before  timing  out.   (default:
                 RES_TIMEOUT)

       -d        Turn  on debugging.  This sets the RES_DEBUG bit
                 of the resolver's options field.  (default:   no
                 debugging)

       -s        Use  a stream rather than a packet.  This uses a
                 TCP stream connection with the nameserver rather
                 than  a  UDP  datagram.  This sets the RES_USEVC
                 bit of the resolver's options field.   (default:
                 UDP)

       -v        Synonym for the 's' flag.

       host      The name of the host (or domain) of interest.

FILES
       /etc/resolv.conf    to get the default ns and search lists
       <arpa/nameser.h>    list of usable RR types and classes
       <resolv.h>          list of resolver flags

SEE ALSO
       nslookup(1), nstest(1), nsquery(1), named(8), resolver(3)

DIAGNOSTICS
       If the resolver fails to answer the  query  and  debugging
       has  not been turned on, dnsquery will simply print a mes-
       sage like:

       Query failed (rc = 1) : Unknown host

       The value of the return code is supplied by h_errno.

BUGS
       Queries of a class other  than  IN  can  have  interesting
       results  since  ordinarily a nameserver only has a list of
       root nameservers for class IN resource records.

       Query uses a call to inet_addr() to determine if the argu-
       ment  for  the  '-n'  option  is a valid Internet address.
       Unfortunately, inet_addr() seems to cause  a  segmentation
       fault with some (bad) addresses (e.g., 1.2.3.4.5).

AUTHOR
       Bryan Beecher









                          10 March 1990                         2


