Question for people who work with DNS

What is the most convenient way can you think of for using a commandline dns lookup utility? Like what parameters would you find most convenient? What output would you find the most readable/useable? You see, I'm making one and am collecting ideas.

I'd like a DNS client to provide me with the lookup results for an IP or a hostname, then give me the nameservers that assigned that result (if it's not a .com|org|net sorta name (i.e. upper level)

well, it'll be able to display anything, but what I'm collecting is ideas on how to issue the commandline. Also, in how it formats the return data.

Ex: (current setup)

C:\>dns www.yahoo.com
64.58.76.228
64.58.76.177
64.58.76.223
64.58.76.230
64.58.76.226
64.58.76.227
64.58.76.179
64.58.76.231
64.58.76.229
64.58.76.176
64.58.76.178
64.58.76.222

C:\>dns -vV www.yahoo.com (-v all answers, -V all fields)
www.yahoo.com CNAME IN 1368 www.yahoo.akadns.net
www.yahoo.akadns.net A IN 49 64.58.76.228
www.yahoo.akadns.net A IN 49 64.58.76.177
www.yahoo.akadns.net A IN 49 64.58.76.223
www.yahoo.akadns.net A IN 49 64.58.76.230
www.yahoo.akadns.net A IN 49 64.58.76.226
www.yahoo.akadns.net A IN 49 64.58.76.227
www.yahoo.akadns.net A IN 49 64.58.76.179
www.yahoo.akadns.net A IN 49 64.58.76.231
www.yahoo.akadns.net A IN 49 64.58.76.229
www.yahoo.akadns.net A IN 49 64.58.76.176
www.yahoo.akadns.net A IN 49 64.58.76.178
www.yahoo.akadns.net A IN 49 64.58.76.222

C:\>dns -tPTR 64.58.74.222
w1.dcx.yahoo.com

(it used the default dns server as specified in the ini file, you may of course specify one)

dns -s A.ROOT-SERVER.NET www.yahoo.com

Allow it to output to a text file, oh, i guess you could just do like

C:\>dns www.yahoo.com >> output.txt

Right? Would that work? If not, make it possible to output to a text file.

I know that its a totally differant thing completely, but it'd be kind of handy if you could:

C:\>dns -t undergroundnews.com

and get an output of the traceroute file for say 30 hops :x... But thats taking advantage of a dns utility since traceroute and ping are two entirely differant tools

.

no actually traceroute and ping are almost completely the same (same protocol ICMP). dns however is of course a completely different protocol, and no I won't have that feature because of that.

yes mornse, you can output the data from the query to file. Which is why I'll have options to include not only answer records, but authoritative records and additional records to recieve the full report like my current DNS lookup gives.

lol, well, nevermind. I decided I don't need suggestions (although they're still welcome). I finally sat down and decided to do some planning for the command-line rather than coding as I go. The command-line system I've developed fits all my ideals:

Powerful - rediculously powerful
typer friendly - pre-configure commandline profiles (reduces typing)
readable/intuitive commandline options

It'll be a downright joy to use!

Imagine typing this into the commandline anytime:

C:\>dns !yahoo

And getting all the IP addresses associated with yahoo.com . Or how bout this:

C:\>dns !IP www.undergroundnews.com

!IP would have contained all the options you desire for your basic IP lookup needs.

gosh DANG I love being a genious.

Mornse - just a tip - any program outputs via "command > textfile.txt" to textfile; it's usually a feature of the OS you're using.

And no, that was *not* a flame.

Well, not any...
Try the route command on windows. It won't let you pipe or redirect the output. It's a real pain actually, 'cause the help is more than one screen full. :-/

./dns www.bob.com
Resolvoed www.bob.com to 64.55.188.20

or elite things like

./dns *.bob.com

Well, I had already completed the program, but this is what it currently looks like with default settings. Is this good enough? (keep in mind that some domains have multiple IP addresses)

Code

C:\Documents and Settings\SR\Desktop>dns www.bob.com
Recursively querying A.GTLD-SERVERS.NET (192.5.6.30)
Recursively querying ns2.adgrafix.com (140.239.36.2)
.
** Answer Records     **********************************************************
www.bob.com              A     64.55.188.20
.
.
C:\Documents and Settings\SR\Desktop>dns bob.com
Recursively querying A.GTLD-SERVERS.NET (192.5.6.30)
Recursively querying ns2.adgrafix.com (140.239.36.2)
.
** Answer Records     **********************************************************
.
bob.com                  A     64.55.188.20
.
.
C:\Documents and Settings\SR\Desktop>

(for some reason I had to insert periods in the blank lines cause UBB wouldn't show the blank lines)

I think neo wants to have *.bob.com for:

joe.bob.com
mom.bob.com
jack.bob.com

he basically wants it so that it'll dns all of the various hostnames, which i think would be sort of difficult (never use impossible, always someone who will go the long mile to kick your [censored]).

There is no way within the DNS protocol to enumerate all the hosts a domain possesses.

I know, hence why i said it'd be difficult lol, i didn't want to be entirely negative about it

...

aye SR.. but using either whois/nameserver servers you could get the list...

damnit neo, I already said how you could get the list. Why'd you have to bring up the topic where I made a statement I've already said wasn't true?

Go spam your [censored] on the newer topic:
http://www.undergroundnews.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000327

Closed.