Which Windows command would you use to query DNS records for troubleshooting name resolution?

Which Windows command would you use to query DNS records for troubleshooting name resolution?

• A. ipconfig
• B. tracert
• C. ping
• D. nslookup

Answer: (D)

When troubleshooting name resolution, you want a tool that can directly query DNS servers for the records associated with a hostname. That is nslookup, a Windows utility designed to perform DNS lookups and retrieve specific record types such as A, AAAA, MX, or PTR, and you can point it at a particular DNS server to test different resolvers. The other commands serve different purposes. ipconfig shows your network configuration and can reveal which DNS servers you’re using, and it can flush caches, but it doesn’t fetch DNS records itself. tracert traces the network path to a host and isn’t about DNS data. ping checks whether a host is reachable and uses DNS only as a byproduct of resolving the name to an IP, not for retrieving DNS records.

When troubleshooting name resolution, you want a tool that can directly query DNS servers for the records associated with a hostname. That is nslookup, a Windows utility designed to perform DNS lookups and retrieve specific record types such as A, AAAA, MX, or PTR, and you can point it at a particular DNS server to test different resolvers.

The other commands serve different purposes. ipconfig shows your network configuration and can reveal which DNS servers you’re using, and it can flush caches, but it doesn’t fetch DNS records itself. tracert traces the network path to a host and isn’t about DNS data. ping checks whether a host is reachable and uses DNS only as a byproduct of resolving the name to an IP, not for retrieving DNS records.