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<H3><A NAME="s4">4. The <I>Host resolution</I> tab</A></H3>

<P>
<H3><A NAME="ss4.1">4.1 What is it?</A>
</H3>

<P>The <I>Host resolution</I> tab allows the execution of a host
resolution program (<CODE>
<A HREF="man:host">host(1)</A></CODE>
or <CODE>
<A HREF="man:nslookup">nslookup(8)</A></CODE>).  This
host resolution program will asks the Domain Name Server the answer to
the question asked.
<P>
<IMG SRC="knu-host.gif">
<P>
<H3><A NAME="ss4.2">4.2 Description</A>
</H3>

<P>This command looks for information about Internet hosts and domain names. It
gets this information from a set of interconnected servers that are spread
across the world. This set of interconnected servers are called the Domain
Name Servers (DNS). The information is stored in the form of <I>resource
records</I> belonging to hierarchically organized <I>zones</I>.
<P>By default, the command simply converts between host names and
Internet addresses. However, with the <I>Search for</I> options, it
can be used to find all of the information about domain names that is
maintained by the domain name­server system. The information printed
consists of various fields of the associated resource records that
were retrieved.
<P>The host field can be either host names (domain names) or numeric Internet
addresses.
<P>A numeric Internet address consists of four decimal numbers separated by dots,
e.g. <CODE>192.16.199.1</CODE>, representing the four bytes of the 32-bit address.
The default action is to look up the associated host name.
<P>A host name or domain name consists of component names (labels) separated by
dots, e.g. <CODE>nikhefh.nikhef.nl</CODE>. The default action is to look up all of
its Internet addresses.
<P>For single names without a trailing dot, the local domain is automatically
tacked on the end. Thus a user in domain <CODE>nikhef.nl</CODE> can type in <CODE>nikhapo</CODE>, and it will actually look up <CODE>nikhapo.nikhef.nl</CODE>. In all
other cases, the name is tried unchanged.  Single names with trailing dot are
considered top-level domain specifications, e.g. <CODE>nl.</CODE>
<P>For a more precise description of the behaviour of this command, please see the
underlying program's man-page <CODE>
<A HREF="man:host">host(1)</A></CODE>
or <CODE>
<A HREF="man:nslookup">nslookup(8)</A></CODE>.
<P>
<H3><A NAME="ss4.3">4.3 Options</A>
</H3>

<P>
<DL>
<DT><B>Search for</B><DD><P>This allows you to specify a particular type of resource record information to
be looked up.  Supported types are listed below. 
<P>
<DT><B>Server</B><DD><P>This is the name (or the address) of the domain name server to ask.
</DL>
<P>
<H4>Resource type</H4>

<P>The resource type possible are:
<P><CODE>A</CODE> ___ the host's Internet address.
<P><CODE>PTR</CODE> _ the host name.
<P><CODE>NS</CODE> __ the name server for the named zone.
<P><CODE>MX</CODE> __ the mail exchanger.
<P><CODE>CNAME</CODE> the canonical name for an alias.
<P><CODE>SOA</CODE> _ the domain's ``start-of-authority'' information.
<P><CODE>ANY</CODE> _ all informations available.
<P>
<P>
<H4><I>Host's authors</I></H4>

<P>This program is originally from Rutgers University. It has been rewritten by
Eric Wassenaar, NIKHEF, &lt;e07@nikhef.nl&gt;.
<P>
<H4><I>NsLookup's authors</I></H4>

<P>Andrew Cherenson
<P>
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