DNS Lookup

DNS Record Lookup - Check All DNS Records for Any Domain

The DNS record lookup collects the DNS info for any domain and presents all the DNS records for that domain.

What types of DNS records can be looked up using the Dig (DNS Lookup)?

Different types of DNS records are used for different purposes. You can perform the following DNS records lookup from our DNS tool.

A record lookup
AAAA record lookup
CNAME lookup
MX lookup
NS lookup
PTR record lookup
SRV record lookup
SOA record lookup
TXT record lookup
CAA record lookup
DS and DNSKEY record lookup

Our DNS domain lookup tool fetches all the DNS records or your specified one for a domain and reports them in a priority list.

Use options to perform DNS server lookup to collect the DNS info against Google DNS Server, Cloudflare DNS Server, OpenDNS DNS Server, or the domain's authoritative name server(s). Therefore, if you change your web hosting or DNS records, those changes should reflect instantly.

Note: Dig (DNS lookup) fetches all the DNS record data using the dig command. You can get that DNS record data in raw form by clicking the “+” plus button on each record.

How is a domain name translated to an IP address?

DNS stands for Domain Name System. The system converts a hostname (dnschecker.org) to a computer-friendly IP address.

When an end-user enters a domain or URL in its browser search bar, DNS servers process the request and translate them into a respective IP address to help browsers load relevant results.

Consider DNS domain lookup as a map or phone book to find your respective searches for a better understanding.

You all know we need a proper address to reach a specific destination. Same with the internet world. All smart devices, phones, laptops, tablets, TVs, etc., communicate over the internet through a series of numbers called the IP Address. DNS Servers eliminate the need for humans to memorize complex IP numeric addresses. The DNS resolution involves converting a human-friendly domain name into a computer-friendly IP address. DNS servers take all the responsibility for delivering relevant results to the user.

As discussed, humans cannot learn long number strings (IP Addresses). Therefore, by simply typing the website's name (www.amazon.com), the DNS server provides the IP Address associated with that domain.

The DNS server can either be on ISP or your local network. Other devices, such as routers, access the translated domain (into IP address) to channel your search results.

DNS Lookup Flow - Eight-Step Process

The flow of the DNS lookup process for domain example.com involves several steps.

Requesting domain information: It starts with a client typing the domain “example.com” in its browser bar.
Contact the recursive DNS server: The browser sends a DNS query to its configured DNS resolver (a recursive resolver) (e.g., the router or ISP's DNS server).
Return DNS record if present: The recursive resolver checks its cache to see if it has a recent copy of the DNS record. If so, it returns the DNS record to the client.
Sending DNS query to root nameserver: If the recursive resolver does not have a recent record copy, it sends a query to one of the root nameservers.
Contacting TLD nameserver: The root nameserver returns with an address of the top-level domain (TLD) nameserver (e.g., the .com TLD nameserver in that case) responsible for the domain in question.
Referring to authoritative nameserver: The TLD nameserver refers to the authoritative nameserver for the specific domain.
Access the DNS record: The recursive resolver sends a request to the authoritative nameserver that responds with the requested DNS record to the recursive resolver, which it caches and then returns to the client.
Final Step: The client uses the information from the DNS record to connect to the IP address of the server hosting the website.

Each DNS request also returns a TTL (time to live) value specifying the time (in seconds) for which the DNS record is cached. When you change your DNS servers, it usually takes 24 to 48 hours for the DNS records to propagate globally. You can go for my DNS check to check whether your domain DNS records are propagated globally.

After knowing how DNS Lookup works, let us discuss its two major types...

Forward DNS Lookup

Searching a domain name to find its IP Address is forwarding DNS Lookup. A typical type allows users to put the domain name to get respective IP addresses.

Reverse DNS Lookup

Contrary to forwarding DNS Lookup, DNS reverse lookup identifies the domain name using the IP Address. Email servers use this lookup method to identify valid receivers.

What is a DNS record?

The DNS records are the mapping files containing the instructions to provide the following information related to a domain.

IP (IPv4/IPv6) is associated with that domain.
How to handle the DNS requests for that domain.

Different Types of DNS Records

A record: the most basic type of record, also known as address record, provides an IPv4 address to a domain or sub-domain name. That record points the domain name to an IP address.
AAAA record: maps the hostname to a 128-bit IPv6 address. For a long time, 32-bit IPv4 addresses served the purpose of identifying a computer on the internet. But due to the shortage of IPv4, IPv6 was created. The four "A" s (AAAA) are mnemonic to represent that IPv6 is four times larger than IPv4.
CNAME record: also known as Canonical Name record, creates an alias of one domain name. The aliased domain or sub-domain gets all the original Domain's DNS records and is commonly used to associate subdomains with the existing main domain. Use the CNAME Lookup tool to dig deeper.
MX record: also known as Mail Exchange records, tells which mail exchange servers are responsible for routing the email to the correct destination or mail server. For detailed analysis, use MX Record Lookup.
NS record: also known as Name Server records, points to the name servers with authority in managing and publishing DNS records of that domain. These DNS servers are authoritative in handling any query related to that domain. Use the NS Lookup tool to dig deeper.
PTR record: also known as Pointer record, points the IPv4 or IPv6 address to its machine's hostname. It provides a reverse DNS record, or rDNS record, by pointing an IP address to the server's hostname. Use the Reverse IP Lookup tool to dig deeper.
SRV record: also known as Service record, indicates which specific services the domain operates and port numbers. Internet protocols such as the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) and the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) often require SRV records.
SOA record: also known as Start of Authority records, provides essential information about the domain, like identifying the master node of the domain authoritative nameserver, an email of the domain administrator, the serial number of the DNS zone, etc.
TXT record: allows the website's administrator to insert any arbitrary text in the DNS record.
CAA record: also known as Certification Authority Authorization record, reflects the public policy regarding issuing digital certificates for the domain. If no CAA record exists for your domain, any Certification Authority can issue an SSL certificate. However, using this record, you can restrict which CA is authorized to issue digital credentials for your domain.
DS record: also known as Delegation Signer record, consists of the unique characters of your public key and its related metadata like Key Tag, Algorithm, Digest Type, and cryptographic hash value called Digest. Use the DS Lookup tool to dig deeper.
DNSKEY record: also known as DNS Key record, containing public signing keys like Zone Signing Key (ZSK) and Key Signing Key (KSK). The DS and DNSKEY records validate the authenticity of DNS records returned by the DNS Server. Use DNSKEY Lookup to dig deeper.

More free DNS tools such as SPF Checker, DKIM Checker, DMARC Checker, and DMARC Generator are also available.

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