How To Check If The DNS Is Working?
Overview:
This can be a problem with internet connection and if you want to know how to check if the DNS is working. If you do not know what DNS is, then let me explain it first. If you use dns (Domain Name System) servers, then those are the servers that help your computer to find websites on the internet or else known as Domain Name Server. Without those dns server, there will be no way for your computer to connect any website online because there’s no dedicated address url for every single site in this world so using this system or process they have created an alternative name or ip address which is called domain names so whenever they have made an arrangement for any domain they delegated them in their own name server list which is separated in its own table so first this technology came into existence for educational purpose but later it was used by millions of people to use the internet very easily.
The DNS server will not only help to find out websites but also it is helpful to resolve email address, ip address etc which are related with domain names.
How we can check if the dns is working properly or Not:
Sometimes DNS Won’t work properly affecting our resolution queries and search results, We need to verify that the DNS is working or not and for doing the same we need to follow a process.
So follow these simple steps below:-
Step 1:
Click start and then run and type cmd on the search field under the programs list. Then hit the enter key on your keyboard. This will open command prompt window for you where you need to write ping followed by website url which you want to visit like:-
ping www.google.com
This will show you the name resolution of your computer for example if your DNS is working fine then will get an output like this:-
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ping www.google.com Pinging www.l.google.com [74.125.226.64] with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 74.125.226.64: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=53 Reply from 74.125-226 .64: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=53 Reply from 74 .125..63 : bytes=32 time =15ms TTL =51 Reply fr om74 .1 25…2 : bytes = 32 time =16 ms TTL =51 Ping statistics for 74.125 .226.64: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 12ms, Maximum = 16 ms, Average = 14 ms
Step 2:
Now type tracert followed by website url which you want to visit like:-
tracert www.google.com
This will show you the path from your computer to the destination website or from your ISP to the Google servers which is useful when there is a network problem occurring between your computer and website server where a traceroute program helps to track all the route path details in between the network process.
If you get an output like this:-
Tracing route to www.l.google.com [74.125.226.64] over a maximum of 30 hops: 1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192-168-0-1 [local] 2 19 ms 18 ms 21 ms 10 .33.0.121 3 22 ms 21 ms 24 ms 182-92 -154-73.dynamic .upc business .cz [92.154.73 .219 ] 4 66ms 69ms 69ms 91×194 .static -customer..fjcdn .com [202.67…3] 5 73 ms 71 ms * f2—0–1–as20447 .10 gigabit ethernet- 0.core 1.fmt2.he .net [2001:500: 13ee::2] 6 88 ms 96 ms 94 ms 2001:504:0:2::e 7 94 ms * * 2001 :500:8f::41 8 96 ms 100 ms 97ms 209 .85.200.239 9 97 ms 100 ms 95ms 209 .85.202.146 10 106 ms 98 ms 111ms 209 .85.203.6 11 110 ms 99 ms 105ms 209 .85.206.201 12 108 m s 124 m s 216 .239-.93 13 121 m s 123 m s 216 .239-.94 14 109 m s 164 m s 216 .239-.95 15 100 m s 134 m s 216 .239-.96 16 105 m s 102 m s 216 .239-.97 17 104 m s 118 m s 216 .239-.98 18 109 ms 115 ms 107ms 216 .239-.99 19 * 96 ms 124 ms 209 -85-200-216.static.pccwglobal .net [209.85…6] 20 181 ms 191 ms ** www.l.google.com [74.125.226….]
Trace complete
Step:3
At last we have got the ip address of the website using “nslookup” tool which is used to query information about domain names, mail servers or other DNS servers like:-
nslookup www.google.com
This will show you the A record details of the website like this:-
Server: google-public-dns-a.google.com Address: 8.8.8.8 Name: www.l.google.com Address: 74.125 .226 .64
So using all these above commands you can easily check if your DNS is working properly or not.
Conclusion:
As you can see, using the above commands are really helpful to check if your dns is working or not. These commands are very easy to use and very helpful when a network problem occurs between you and a website server where the traceroute program helps to track all the route path details in between the network process. And finally nslookup tool queries information about domain names, mail servers or other DNS servers so use these tools whenever you have any problems related with DNS servers or if it’s not working properly.