Footprinting using DNS info

DNS stands for Domain Name System. It is a server that keeps the mapping between IP addresses and respective Domain Names. As IP addresses are the numbers and our brain is better in rembering the "words" than the "numbers', the DNS server provides this mapping facility to us. There are various tools like nslookup, host, etc. by using which we can gather the DNS information about the target in indirect manner.

1. Nslookup:

It returns the IP address of the site from DNS servers.

In Kali Linux Terminal

~# nslookup {site name}

Nslookup can also be used to find various services on the domain name. E.g. using nslookup for findling mail servers on perticular domain.

In Kali Linux Terminal

~# nslookup

> set type = mx

> {domain name}

Here,

mx --> mail server

2. Host:

Host provides the name servers for the perticlar domain.

In Kali Linux Terminal

~# host -t ns {domain name}

Here,

-t --> query type

ns --> name server