Your DNS is not working well, and you have no idea what is happening. It is time for DNS troubleshooting. There are plenty of options that could help you discover the DNS problem. We will show you the most popular and practical for your needs.
DNS basic knowledge
If you searched “DNS troubleshooting” you probably know what DNS is, so we will go directly to the business. You can check the types of DNS records. You can troubleshoot specific DNS record to see if there are problems with them. It is possible that the DNS records were not configured correctly.
DNS Troubleshooting Tools
There are plenty of tools that you can use. The tools can be specific for Linux, Windows, or Mac OS, or they can be browser-based. Most of the tools that we will show you overlaps in functionality, and it will be your decision which one you would use in the future.
Check if the problem is not just in your device
Before you start with the DNS troubleshooting, check if the problem is only local. If you are trying to access your website, but you are getting this message “DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN” the problem might be in your device. We recently wrote a way to fix it. Go and read the article.
Dig command
Good tool for DNS troubleshooting. You can see all the DNS records. You can use it on Linux and Mac OS, but you can search for a port for Windows too. A typical dig command will show you an Authority Section. You can see if the DNS is pointing correctly.
Use it with +trace in dig +trace combination “dig +trace YOURDOMAIN” to see the whole route of your query. This way you can locate the exact problem.
Dns.computer
This one is simple and easy to use browser-based lookup tool. You can perform DNS troubleshooting with it even from your cell phone. Check a domain and get a fast result about the name servers, response time, SOA records, and A records. You can see if a server is not responding or if it is responding too slow. It is missing different DNS records, but it is convenient for a quick check.
Traceroute
Traceroute command and its options
As the name suggests, this will be ideal for checking the entire route of a DNS query. You can use it on Windows as Tracert, Linux and Mac OS as traceroute. You can try it with a domain or IP address, and you will see a result with all the hops and response time.
NSLookup
10 most used Nslookup commands
NSLookup lets you check any type of DNS record. You can use it to see all the available DNS records, or you can look for a specific type like – A, AAAA, SOA, MX, NS. You can use it to troubleshoot a domain using a particular port too.
Host command
Host command is very similar to the NSLookup but available only on Linux. You have to write the commands in the Terminal, and you can see the different types of DNS records.
One thing that you can troubleshoot if you have problem with your emails are the TXT records. You can see if there is a SPF record. It is a TXT record that prevents spoofing and stops your outgoing emails from going directly into the spam folder.
Ping command
You can use Ping command on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. By using ping, you can see if the name server you want to reach, responds. You can also check the time of the response and the TTL.
If the domain that you are troubleshooting doesn’t respond, but the IP gives results, that there is a problem in the hostname resolution. Check if the DNS servers are pointing to the right direction.
DNS Troubleshooting Conclusion
There are plenty of useful tools that you can use for DNS troubleshooting. Try all of these and find the right one for you and your problem. Many overlaps in functionality, but have some small differences that can help you in a specific case.
As you saw, there are utilities for every operating system so that you can find the problem easily. After you see where the problem is, it is easy to fix it.