Which Linux command queries DNS name servers to retrieve information about a target host addresses, name servers, mail exchanges, etc?

Which Linux command queries DNS name servers to retrieve information about a target host addresses, name servers, mail exchanges, etc?

• A. nslookup
• B. Showmount
• C. dig command
• D. RPCScan

Answer: (C)

Querying DNS records with a command-line tool. The dig command talks directly to DNS name servers to fetch a variety of records about a host, including A records (addresses), NS (name servers), and MX (mail exchanges). It lets you target a specific DNS server and request particular record types, for example: dig example.com MX to get mail exchangers, or dig @8.8.8.8 example.com A to query a specific server for the host’s address. Its verbose output shows the question, answer, authority, and additional sections, which helps verify results and spot misconfigurations. This makes it especially useful for reconnaissance and troubleshooting in Linux. Showmount and RPCScan serve different purposes (NFS shares and RPC service scanning, respectively), while nslookup can perform DNS queries but dig provides more options and clearer output.

Querying DNS records with a command-line tool. The dig command talks directly to DNS name servers to fetch a variety of records about a host, including A records (addresses), NS (name servers), and MX (mail exchanges). It lets you target a specific DNS server and request particular record types, for example: dig example.com MX to get mail exchangers, or dig @8.8.8.8 example.com A to query a specific server for the host’s address. Its verbose output shows the question, answer, authority, and additional sections, which helps verify results and spot misconfigurations. This makes it especially useful for reconnaissance and troubleshooting in Linux. Showmount and RPCScan serve different purposes (NFS shares and RPC service scanning, respectively), while nslookup can perform DNS queries but dig provides more options and clearer output.