Dig (Domain Information Groper) is a powerful command-line tool for querying DNS name servers.
The dig command, like nslookup, allows you to query information about various DNS records, including host addresses, mail exchanges, and name servers. It is the most commonly used tool among system administrators for troubleshooting DNS problems because of its flexibility and ease of use.
This tutorial explains how to use the dig utility through practical examples and detailed explanations of the most common dig options.
To check if the dig command is available on your system type:
dig -v
The output should look something like this:
DiG 9.10.6
If dig is not present on your system, the command above will print “dig: command not found”. The dig tool can be installed using the distro’s package manager.
Quick command Cheat Sheet:
More in depth, understanding the dig Output:
In its simplest form, when used to query a single host (domain) without any additional options, the dig command is pretty verbose.
In the following example, we’re performing on the wirelessphreak.com domain:
dig wirelessphreak.com
The output should look something like this:
; <<>> DiG 9.10.6 <<>> wirelessphreak.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 19643
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1
;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 4096
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;wirelessphreak.com. IN A
;; ANSWER SECTION:
wirelessphreak.com. 300 IN A 104.24.119.62
wirelessphreak.com. 300 IN A 172.67.210.173
wirelessphreak.com. 300 IN A 104.24.118.62
;; Query time: 37 msec
;; SERVER: 208.67.220.220#53(208.67.220.220)
;; WHEN: Mon Nov 16 12:16:45 PST 2020
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 95
Let’s go section by section and explain the output of the dig command:
The first line of the output prints the installed dig version, and the queried domain name. The second line shows the global options (by default, only cmd).
; <<>>DiG 9.10.6 <<>> wirelessphreak.com
;; global options: +cmd
If you don’t want those lines to be included in the output, use the +nocmd option. This option must be the very first one after the dig command.
The next section includes technical details about the answer received from the requested authority (DNS server). The header shows the opcode (the action performed by dig) and the status of the action. In this example, the status is NOERROR, which means that the requested authority served the query without any issue.
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 19643
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1
This section can be removed using the +nocomments option, which also disables some other section’s headers.
The “OPT” pseudo section is shown only in the newer versions of the dig utility. You can read more about the Extension mechanisms for DNS (EDNS) here .
;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 4096
To exclude this section from the output, use the +noedns option.
In the “QUESTION” section dig shows the query (question). By default, dig requests the A record.
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;wirelessphreak.com. IN A
You can disable this section using the +noquestion option.
The “ANSWER” section provides us with an answer to our question. As we already mentioned, by default dig will request the A record. Here, we can see that the domain wirelessphreak.com points to the three IP address.
;; ANSWER SECTION:
wirelessphreak.com. 300 IN A 104.24.119.62
wirelessphreak.com. 300 IN A 172.67.210.173
wirelessphreak.com. 300 IN A 104.24.118.62
Usually, you do not want to turn off the answer, but you can remove this section from the output using the +noanswer option.
The “AUTHORITY” section tells us what server(s) are the authority for answering DNS queries about the queried domain. In this example it did not provide and authoritative server answer.
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
You can disable this section of the output using the +noauthority option.
The “ADDITIONAL” section gives us information about the IP addresses of the authoritative DNS servers shown in the authority section.
;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
The +noadditional option disables the additional section of a reply.
The last section of the dig output includes statistics about the query.
;; Query time: 37 msec
;; SERVER: 208.67.220.220#53(208.67.220.220)
;; WHEN: Mon Nov 16 12:16:45 PST 2020
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 95
You can disable this part with the +nostats option.
Printing Only the Answer
Generally, you would want to get only a short answer to your dig query.
1. Get a Short Answer
To get a short answer to your query, use the +short option:
dig wirelessphreak.com +short
104.24.119.62
172.67.210.173
104.24.118.62
The output will include only the IP addresses of the A record.
2. Get a Detailed Answer
For more a detailed answer, turn off all the results using the +noall options and then turn on only the answer section with the +answer option.
dig wirelessphreak.com +noall +answer
; <<>> DiG 9.10.6 <<>> wirelessphreak.com +noall +answer
;; global options: +cmd
wirelessphreak.com. 300 IN A 104.24.119.62
wirelessphreak.com. 300 IN A 172.67.210.173
wirelessphreak.com. 300 IN A 104.24.118.62
Query Specific Name Server
By default, if no name server is specified, dig uses the servers listed in /etc/resolv.conf file.
To specify a name server against which the query will be executed, use the @ (at) symbol followed by the name server IP address or hostname.
For example, to query the Google name server (8.8.8.8) for information about the wirelessphreak.com domain you would use:
dig wirelessphreak.com @8.8.8.8
; <<>> DiG 9.10.6 <<>> wirelessphreak.com @8.8.8.8
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 23065
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1
;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 512
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;wirelessphreak.com. IN A
;; ANSWER SECTION:
wirelessphreak.com. 299 IN A 104.24.118.62
wirelessphreak.com. 299 IN A 104.24.119.62
wirelessphreak.com. 299 IN A 172.67.210.173
;; Query time: 31 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Mon Nov 16 12:27:32 PST 2020
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 95
Query a Record Type
Dig allows you to perform any valid DNS query by appending the record type to the end of the query. In the following section, we will show you examples of how to search for the most common records, such as A (the IP address), CNAME (canonical name), TXT (text record), MX (mail exchanger), and NS (name servers).
1. Querying A records
To get a list of all the address(es) for a domain name, use the a option:
dig +nocmd google.com a +noall +answer
google.com. 128 IN A 216.58.206.206
As you already know, if no DNS record type is specified, dig will request the A record. You can also query the A record without specifying the a option.
2. Querying CNAME records
To find the alias domain name use the cname option:
dig +nocmd mail.google.com cname +noall +answer
mail.google.com. 553482 IN CNAME googlemail.l.google.com.
3. Querying TXT records
Use the txt option to retrieve all the TXT records for a specific domain:
dig +nocmd google.com txt +noall +answer
google.com. 300 IN TXT "facebook-domain- verification=22rm551cu4k0ab0bxsw536tlds4h95"
google.com. 300 IN TXT "v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all"
google.com. 300 IN TXT "docusign=05958488-4752-4ef2-95eb-aa7ba8a3bd0e"
4. Querying MX records
To get a list of all the mail servers for a specific domain use the mx option:
dig +nocmd google.com mx +noall +answer
google.com. 494 IN MX 30 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com. 494 IN MX 10 aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com. 494 IN MX 40 alt3.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com. 494 IN MX 50 alt4.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com. 494 IN MX 20 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com.
5. Querying NS records
To find the authoritative name servers for our specific domain use the ns option:
dig +nocmd google.com ns +noall +answer
google.com. 84527 IN NS ns1.google.com.
google.com. 84527 IN NS ns2.google.com.
google.com. 84527 IN NS ns4.google.com.
google.com. 84527 IN NS ns3.google.com.
6. Querying All Records
Use the any option to get a list of all DNS records for a specific domain:
dig +nocmd google.com any +noall +answer
google.com. 299 IN A 216.58.212.14
google.com. 299 IN AAAA 2a00:1450:4017:804::200e
google.com. 21599 IN NS ns2.google.com.
google.com. 21599 IN NS ns1.google.com.
google.com. 599 IN MX 30 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com. 21599 IN NS ns4.google.com.
google.com. 599 IN MX 50 alt4.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com. 599 IN MX 20 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com. 299 IN TXT "docusign=05958488-4752-4ef2-95eb-aa7ba8a3bd0e"
google.com. 21599 IN CAA 0 issue "pki.goog"
google.com. 599 IN MX 40 alt3.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com. 3599 IN TXT "facebook-domain- verification=22rm551cu4k0ab0bxsw536tlds4h95"
google.com. 21599 IN NS ns3.google.com.
google.com. 599 IN MX 10 aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com. 3599 IN TXT "v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all"
google.com. 59 IN SOA ns1.google.com. dns-admin.google.com. 216967258 900 900 1800 60
Reverse DNS Lookup
To query the hostname associated with a specific IP address use the -x option.
For example, to perform a reverse lookup on 208.118.235.148 you would type:
dig -x 208.118.235.148 +noall +answer
As you can see from the output below the IP address 208.118.235.148 is associated with the hostname wildebeest.gnu.org.
; <<>>DiG 9.10.6 <<>> -x 208.118.235.148 +noall +answer
;; global options: +cmd
148.235.118.208.in-addr.arpa. 245 IN PTR wildebeest.gnu.org.
Bulk Queries
If you want to query a large number of domains, you can add them in a file (one domain per line) and use the -f option followed by the file name.
In the following example, we are querying the domains listed in the domains.txt file.
domains.txt
lxer.com
linuxtoday.com
tuxmachines.org
dig -f domains.txt +short
108.166.170.171
70.42.23.121
204.68.122.43
The .digrc File
The dig command’s behavior can be controlled by setting up per-user options in the ${HOME}/.digrc file.
If the .digrc file is present in the user’s home directory, the options specified in it are applied before the command line arguments.
For example, if you want to display only the answer section, open your text editor and create the following ~/.digrc file:
~/.digrc
+nocmd +noall +answer
Conclusion
dig like nslookup is a command-line tool for querying DNS information and troubleshooting DNS related issues. My personal opinion dig is a much more powerful tool since it gives more of the raw DNS output. In the hands of an individual who understands DNS both dig and nslookup are powerful tools.