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How to use the host command to get information about a host and do a reverse IP lookup.

This is how to get IP address information for a host. The host command is very useful for performing a DNS lookup.

homer@neo:~$ host yahoo.com
yahoo.com has address 206.190.36.45
yahoo.com has address 98.139.183.24
yahoo.com has address 98.138.253.109
yahoo.com mail is handled by 1 mta5.am0.yahoodns.net.
yahoo.com mail is handled by 1 mta7.am0.yahoodns.net.
yahoo.com mail is handled by 1 mta6.am0.yahoodns.net.

This is how to get the domain IP address.

homer@neo:~$ host -t a yahoo.com
yahoo.com has address 98.139.183.24
yahoo.com has address 206.190.36.45
yahoo.com has address 98.138.253.109

Find out the domain mail server(s) with this command.

homer@neo:~$ host -t mx yahoo.com
yahoo.com mail is handled by 1 mta5.am0.yahoodns.net.
yahoo.com mail is handled by 1 mta7.am0.yahoodns.net.
yahoo.com mail is handled by 1 mta6.am0.yahoodns.net.

Find out the domain name servers for the address this way. Here is the output you should get.

homer@neo:~$ host -t ns yahoo.com
yahoo.com name server ns1.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com name server ns8.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com name server ns4.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com name server ns3.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com name server ns6.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com name server ns2.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com name server ns5.yahoo.com.

Get all pertinent information about a host this way. This gives you the host IP addresses and the name servers.

homer@neo:~$ host -a nsa.gov
Trying "nsa.gov"
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 28754
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 7, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0
 
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;nsa.gov.			IN	ANY
 
;; ANSWER SECTION:
nsa.gov.		299	IN	A	65.196.127.226
nsa.gov.		299	IN	A	65.196.127.225
nsa.gov.		3599	IN	MX	20 emvm-gh1-uea09.nsa.gov.
nsa.gov.		3599	IN	MX	20 emvm-gh1-uea08.nsa.gov.
nsa.gov.		21599	IN	NS	dsdn-gh1-uea05.nsa.gov.
nsa.gov.		21599	IN	NS	dsdn-gh1-uea06.nsa.gov.
nsa.gov.		21599	IN	SOA	dsdn-gh1-uea05.nsa.gov. please_set_email.absolutely.nowhere. 2011061486 10800 3600 2419200 900
 
Received 248 bytes from 192.168.1.1#53 in 376 ms

Reverse IP lookup with the host command.

homer@neo:~$ host 82.98.86.176
176.86.98.82.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer ironman3.com.

To show how names are resolved using name servers, use the dig command with the +trace parameter to trace the path to the target.

homer@neo:~$ dig +trace yahoo.com
 
; <<>> DiG 9.8.4-rpz2+rl005.12-P1 <<>> +trace yahoo.com
;; global options: +cmd
.			5476	IN	NS	a.root-servers.net.
.			5476	IN	NS	b.root-servers.net.
.			5476	IN	NS	c.root-servers.net.
.			5476	IN	NS	d.root-servers.net.
.			5476	IN	NS	e.root-servers.net.
.			5476	IN	NS	f.root-servers.net.
.			5476	IN	NS	g.root-servers.net.
.			5476	IN	NS	h.root-servers.net.
.			5476	IN	NS	i.root-servers.net.
.			5476	IN	NS	j.root-servers.net.
.			5476	IN	NS	k.root-servers.net.
.			5476	IN	NS	l.root-servers.net.
.			5476	IN	NS	m.root-servers.net.
;; Received 228 bytes from 192.168.1.1#53(192.168.1.1) in 520 ms
 
com.			172800	IN	NS	a.gtld-servers.net.
com.			172800	IN	NS	b.gtld-servers.net.
com.			172800	IN	NS	c.gtld-servers.net.
com.			172800	IN	NS	d.gtld-servers.net.
com.			172800	IN	NS	e.gtld-servers.net.
com.			172800	IN	NS	f.gtld-servers.net.
com.			172800	IN	NS	g.gtld-servers.net.
com.			172800	IN	NS	h.gtld-servers.net.
com.			172800	IN	NS	i.gtld-servers.net.
com.			172800	IN	NS	j.gtld-servers.net.
com.			172800	IN	NS	k.gtld-servers.net.
com.			172800	IN	NS	l.gtld-servers.net.
com.			172800	IN	NS	m.gtld-servers.net.
;; Received 487 bytes from 128.63.2.53#53(128.63.2.53) in 17306 ms
 
yahoo.com.		172800	IN	NS	ns1.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com.		172800	IN	NS	ns5.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com.		172800	IN	NS	ns2.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com.		172800	IN	NS	ns3.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com.		172800	IN	NS	ns4.yahoo.com.
;; Received 197 bytes from 192.55.83.30#53(192.55.83.30) in 6259 ms
 
yahoo.com.		1800	IN	A	206.190.36.45
yahoo.com.		1800	IN	A	98.139.183.24
yahoo.com.		1800	IN	A	98.138.253.109
yahoo.com.		172800	IN	NS	ns6.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com.		172800	IN	NS	ns8.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com.		172800	IN	NS	ns1.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com.		172800	IN	NS	ns2.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com.		172800	IN	NS	ns3.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com.		172800	IN	NS	ns4.yahoo.com.
yahoo.com.		172800	IN	NS	ns5.yahoo.com.
;; Received 313 bytes from 68.142.255.16#53(68.142.255.16) in 171 ms

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