DNS Lookup Online - The Ultimate DNS Record Checker
Now check the “domain name system” records of any domain name using our powerful tool, which takes only a few seconds to facilitate you. It allows you to do a quick DNS record lookup and verify and troubleshoot all DNS records in one place. This way, it helps to ensure domain ownership, resolve accessibility issues, and enables seamless domain migrations.
Its user-friendly interface lets you select any DNS record for lookup in a hassle-free manner. Its advanced algorithms empower you to get the details with 100% accuracy quickly. It will retrieve and display updated information about all DNS records details against global servers — including Google, Cloudflare, OpenDNS, Quad9, Yandex, and the domain's authoritative name server(s).
With our DNS lookup online tool, you can confidently monitor and analyze DNS configurations, identify security vulnerabilities, and configure various services associated with your domain.
How DNS Record Lookup Works?
Follow these steps to use our domain DNS lookup tool for a quick DNS record check:
Enter Domain Name
Enter any domain name (dnschecker.org) in the search bar for DNS record lookup.
Select The Server
Click on “server” to access the drop-down menu and choose a server against which you’d like to check DNS records:
- Cloudflare
- Quad9
- Yandex
- Authoritative DNS
Specify Record Type
You can either check all DNS records at a time or select any of the following to get specific details as per your needs:
- A record is the most basic type of record, also known as address record. That record points the domain or sub-domain name to an IPv4 address.
- AAAA record maps the hostname to a 128-bit IPv6 address of the given domain name.
- CNAME record creates an alias of a domain and associates subdomains with the main domain.
- MX record tells which mail exchange servers route emails to the correct destinations.
- NS record points to the name servers with authority in managing and publishing DNS records.
- PTR record performs reverse lookup to point the IPv4 or IPv6 address to its machine's hostname.
- SRV record indicates which specific services are available on the domain name.
- SOA record provides information about a domain, like identifying the master node of the authoritative nameserver.
- TXT record allows the website's administrator to insert any arbitrary text in the DNS record. Some examples of TXT records are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
- CAA record reflects the public policy regarding issuing digital certificates for the domain.
- DS record consists of the unique characters of your public key and its related metadata like key tag and digest type.
- DNSKEY record contains public signing keys like Zone Signing Key (ZSK) and Key Signing Key (KSK).
Perform DNS Lookup
Click on “Lookup DNS” to run our tool and get all the details you need to check and verify.
If you have recently changed your web hosting or DNS records, you can use the WhatsMyDNS tool to check DNS propagation.
For your convenience, we have developed Chrome DNS Lookup Extension to quickly check the DNS records for the website you are currently on.
A Quick Guide to Understanding DNS
Here’s everything you need to know about domain name system records. Get answers to your quick questions and clear all your confusion!
What are DNS records?
The DNS records are fundamental to the internet infrastructure that translates human-readable domain names into machine-readable IP addresses. They serve as a directory or database containing specific information about a domain, enabling efficient and reliable communication between devices and services on the internet.
What is DNS Lookup?
DNS resolution or DNS lookup refers to mapping a domain name into its corresponding IP address. It involves the steps taken by the DNS system to resolve a domain name query and provide the IP address required to establish a connection with the desired server.
The flow of the DNS lookup process for domain example.com involves several steps as follows:
- 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 (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 use a global DNS check tool to verify whether your domain DNS records are propagated globally.
What are the Types of DNS Lookup?
After knowing how DNS Lookup works, let us discuss its two major types:
Forward DNS Lookup
Forward DNS Lookup involves searching for the IP Address associated with a given domain name. This type lets users input a domain name and obtain the corresponding IP addresses.
Reverse DNS Lookup
In contrast to Forward DNS Lookup, Reverse DNS Lookup is used to identify the domain name associated with a given IP Address. Email servers commonly employ this lookup method to verify the legitimacy of recipients.
Why is DNS Record Lookup Important?
DNS record lookup helps in the following:
- Domain name resolution: Resolves domain names to IP addresses, enabling computers to locate websites and online services.
- Accurate resource mapping: Allows administrators to monitor DNS records for accurate resource mapping and resolving DNS-related problems.
- Internet accessibility: Ensures website accessibility by accurately translating domain names to the correct IP addresses.
- Email delivery: Facilitates email delivery by identifying the email server responsible for accepting incoming messages through MX records.
- Load balancing and failover: Enables load balancing by effectively distributing network traffic across multiple servers, improving performance and preventing server overload. It also supports failover by redirecting traffic to backup servers in case of primary server failure.
- Security & Protection: Enhances security through mechanisms like SPF and DKIM that authenticate email senders using DNS records.
- DNSBL Defense: Helps prevent spam and malicious activities by utilizing DNS-based blacklists (DNSBL).
- Network troubleshooting: Assists in network management and troubleshooting by quickly validating DNS configurations and diagnosing connectivity issues.
Can I Perform a DNS Record Lookup for Subdomains?
Yes, you can perform DNS record lookups for subdomains like you would for a main domain. To retrieve the associated records, specify the full subdomain name (e.g., subdomain.example.com) in your DNS record lookup query.
How Do I Perform a DNS Lookup Using Command-Line Tools?
To perform the DNS lookup using the command line, here is the process:
For Windows:
- Open Command Prompt
- Enter
nslookup domain.comto perform a DNS lookup for the domain
To specify a record type, use nslookup -type=recordtype domain.com.
For macOS or Linux:
- Open Terminal.
- Enter
dig domain.comto perform a DNS lookup for the domain.
To specify a record type, use dig -t recordtype domain.com.
You should replace “domain.com” with the website for whom you want to perform the lookup. Moreover, change “recordtype” with the record types like A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, etc.
Does Our DNS Lookup Tool Help Diagnose DNS Issues?
Our DNS Lookup tool doesn’t diagnose DNS issues. It only provides information about certain DNS records that can help you to find issues regarding the following areas:
- Incorrect DNS configurations
- DNS propagation (for default DNS provider only) (i.e., the provider that we use to fetch DNS records of your query)
- Reverse DNS misconfigurations
- Missing or incorrect DNS records
- DNS server availability
- DNSSEC verification
Note: For diagnosing DNS issues better to check domain health.
