If you’re just getting started with IT operations, DNS and NSLookUp should be your best friend. DNS so that you can use the internet and NSLookup so you can fix whatever is broken with your internet connection. That’s why in one of our recent classes, we discussed how to use NSLookUp to get a clearer picture to diagnose your DNS. (This week’s vBlog was recorded out of the studio.)
DNS has a long history of helping people use words instead of strings of numbers to navigate the internet. Understanding how to administer and navigate the DNS System, and properly use the Domain Name Structure, is critical to the success of a company’s internet usage. To learn more about DNS and how to manage yours, attend one of Doug’s upcoming courses!
Another resource for those just getting started or wanting to improve is the CompTIA Career and Certification Guide. Download this guide to learn more about how to get started with your IT certifications! Learn about CompTIA A+, Network+, Project+, Security+, and many more!
About the Instructor:
Doug brings over thirty years of experience in consulting, operations, network design and instruction, serving small office/home offices as well as global enterprises. As a technical instructor, Doug’s high energy, infectious enthusiasm and unmatched passion for training and “all things gizmo” leave students energized, excited and driven to devour complex technology and innovation. Known for getting the audience to do “the wave” at events, Doug was a featured speaker at Microsoft TechEd in Barcelona Spain on Virtual classroom training and has presented numerous times at Fortune 100 corporations like Microsoft and Apple. Wanna join his next class? Learn more here.
Read the full transcript of the video:
“We had a discussion in class talking about important systems. The big comment was, is that DNS is really the most important system you have in your environment. Without DNS, I’m not gonna be able to go in and find things like domain controllers. I can’t find auto discover for exchange. Without DNS you’re toast.But how can we easily test DNS and look behind the covers and see where this information is coming from? You could open up a browser and see if you can resolve the name. You can open up a command prompt and say, “Hey I want to ping it.” And you ping it by name. But it doesn’t really peel back and show you what’s going on with DNS.
But how can we easily test DNS and look behind the covers and see where this information is coming from? You could open up a browser and see if you can resolve the name. You can open up a command prompt and say, “Hey I want to ping it.” And you ping it by name. But it doesn’t really peel back and show you what’s going on with DNS.
My recommendation is, is there’s a utility called NSLookUp. It’s built right into your operating system. When you use NSLookUp you have an interactive mode and you have a batch mode. Just type NSLookUp and then you can go in there and you can do DNS queries, it’ll show you the IP address, the DNS server that responded. You can also say that I want to look for particular record types. For example, maybe I’m looking for email exchange records to see why people aren’t able to drop off an email. I can do a set type = MX, various commands that are in there.But if you’re not familiar with NSLookUp, it is going to really, really help you go through and do troubleshooting. It is one of those tools that I highly recommend.
But if you’re not familiar with NSLookIp, it is going to really, really help you go through and do troubleshooting. It is one of those tools that I highly recommend.”