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<!ENTITY mdash "&#8212;">]>

<refentry xmlns:db="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" version="5.0" xml:id="man.host">

<info>

<date>2009-01-20</date>

</info>

<refentryinfo>

<corpname>ISC</corpname>

<corpauthor>Internet Systems Consortium, Inc.</corpauthor>

</refentryinfo>

<refmeta>

<refentrytitle>host</refentrytitle>

<manvolnum>1</manvolnum>

<refmiscinfo>BIND9</refmiscinfo>

</refmeta>

<refnamediv>

<refname>host</refname>

<refpurpose>DNS lookup utility</refpurpose>

</refnamediv>

<docinfo>

<copyright>

<year>2000</year>

<year>2001</year>

<year>2002</year>

<year>2004</year>

<year>2005</year>

<year>2007</year>

<year>2008</year>

<year>2009</year>

<year>2014</year>

<year>2015</year>

<year>2016</year>

<year>2017</year>

<holder>Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")</holder>

</copyright>

</docinfo>

<refsynopsisdiv>

<cmdsynopsis sepchar=" ">

<command>host</command>

<arg choice="opt" rep="norepeat"><option>-aCdlnrsTUwv</option></arg>

<arg choice="opt" rep="norepeat"><option>-c <replaceable class="parameter">class</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg choice="opt" rep="norepeat"><option>-N <replaceable class="parameter">ndots</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg choice="opt" rep="norepeat"><option>-R <replaceable class="parameter">number</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg choice="opt" rep="norepeat"><option>-t <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg choice="opt" rep="norepeat"><option>-W <replaceable class="parameter">wait</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg choice="opt" rep="norepeat"><option>-m <replaceable class="parameter">flag</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg choice="opt" rep="norepeat"><option>-4</option></arg>

<arg choice="opt" rep="norepeat"><option>-6</option></arg>

<arg choice="opt" rep="norepeat"><option>-v</option></arg>

<arg choice="opt" rep="norepeat"><option>-V</option></arg>

<arg choice="req" rep="norepeat">name</arg>

<arg choice="opt" rep="norepeat">server</arg>

</cmdsynopsis>

</refsynopsisdiv>

<refsection><info><title>DESCRIPTION</title></info>

<para><command>host</command>

is a simple utility for performing DNS lookups.

It is normally used to convert names to IP addresses and vice versa.

When no arguments or options are given,

<command>host</command>

prints a short summary of its command line arguments and options.

</para>

<para><parameter>name</parameter> is the domain name that is to be

looked

up. It can also be a dotted-decimal IPv4 address or a colon-delimited

IPv6 address, in which case <command>host</command> will by

default

perform a reverse lookup for that address.

<parameter>server</parameter> is an optional argument which

is either

the name or IP address of the name server that <command>host</command>

should query instead of the server or servers listed in

<filename>/etc/resolv.conf</filename>.

</para>

</refsection>

<refsection><info><title>OPTIONS</title></info>

<variablelist>

<varlistentry>

<term>-4</term>

<listitem>

<para>

Use IPv4 only for query transport.

See also the <option>-6</option> option.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-6</term>

<listitem>

<para>

Use IPv6 only for query transport.

See also the <option>-4</option> option.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-a</term>

<listitem>

<para>

"All". The <option>-a</option> option is normally equivalent

to <option>-v -t <literal>ANY</literal></option>.

It also affects the behaviour of the <option>-l</option>

list zone option.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-c <replaceable class="parameter">class</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Query class: This can be used to lookup HS (Hesiod) or CH

(Chaosnet) class resource records. The default class is IN

(Internet).

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-C</term>

<listitem>

<para>

Check consistency: <command>host</command> will query the

SOA records for zone <parameter>name</parameter> from all

the listed authoritative name servers for that zone. The

list of name servers is defined by the NS records that are

found for the zone.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-d</term>

<listitem>

<para>

Print debugging traces.

Equivalent to the <option>-v</option> verbose option.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-i</term>

<listitem>

<para>

Obsolete.

Use the IP6.INT domain for reverse lookups of IPv6

addresses as defined in RFC1886 and deprecated in RFC4159.

The default is to use IP6.ARPA as specified in RFC3596.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-l</term>

<listitem>

<para>

List zone:

The <command>host</command> command performs a zone transfer of

zone <parameter>name</parameter> and prints out the NS,

PTR and address records (A/AAAA).

</para>

<para>

Together, the <option>-l -a</option>

options print all records in the zone.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-N <replaceable class="parameter">ndots</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

The number of dots that have to be

in <parameter>name</parameter> for it to be considered

absolute. The default value is that defined using the

ndots statement in <filename>/etc/resolv.conf</filename>,

or 1 if no ndots statement is present. Names with fewer

dots are interpreted as relative names and will be

searched for in the domains listed in

the <type>search</type> or <type>domain</type> directive

in <filename>/etc/resolv.conf</filename>.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-r</term>

<listitem>

<para>

Non-recursive query:

Setting this option clears the RD (recursion desired) bit

in the query. This should mean that the name server

receiving the query will not attempt to

resolve <parameter>name</parameter>.

The <option>-r</option> option

enables <command>host</command> to mimic the behavior of a

name server by making non-recursive queries and expecting

to receive answers to those queries that can be

referrals to other name servers.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-R <replaceable class="parameter">number</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Number of retries for UDP queries:

If <parameter>number</parameter> is negative or zero, the

number of retries will default to 1. The default value is

1, or the value of the <parameter>attempts</parameter>

option in <filename>/etc/resolv.conf</filename>, if set.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-s</term>

<listitem>

<para>

Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send the query to the next

nameserver if any server responds with a SERVFAIL

response, which is the reverse of normal stub resolver

behavior.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-t <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Query type:

The <parameter>type</parameter> argument can be any

recognized query type: CNAME, NS, SOA, TXT, DNSKEY, AXFR, etc.

</para>

<para>

When no query type is specified, <command>host</command>

automatically selects an appropriate query type. By default, it

looks for A, AAAA, and MX records.

If the <option>-C</option> option is given, queries will

be made for SOA records.

If <parameter>name</parameter> is a dotted-decimal IPv4

address or colon-delimited IPv6

address, <command>host</command> will query for PTR

records.

</para>

<para>

If a query type of IXFR is chosen the starting serial

number can be specified by appending an equal followed by

the starting serial number

(like <option>-t <literal>IXFR=12345678</literal></option>).

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-T</term>

<term>-U</term>

<listitem>

<para>

TCP/UDP:

By default, <command>host</command> uses UDP when making

queries. The <option>-T</option> option makes it use a TCP

connection when querying the name server. TCP will be

automatically selected for queries that require it, such

as zone transfer (AXFR) requests. Type ANY queries default

to TCP but can be forced to UDP initially using <option>-U</option>.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-m <replaceable class="parameter">flag</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Memory usage debugging: the flag can

be <parameter>record</parameter>, <parameter>usage</parameter>,

or <parameter>trace</parameter>. You can specify

the <option>-m</option> option more than once to set

multiple flags.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-v</term>

<listitem>

<para>

Verbose output.

Equivalent to the <option>-d</option> debug option.

Verbose output can also be enabled by setting

the <parameter>debug</parameter> option

in <filename>/etc/resolv.conf</filename>.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-V</term>

<listitem>

<para>

Print the version number and exit.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-w</term>

<listitem>

<para>

Wait forever: The query timeout is set to the maximum possible.

See also the <option>-W</option> option.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-W <replaceable class="parameter">wait</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Timeout: Wait for up to <parameter>wait</parameter>

seconds for a reply. If <parameter>wait</parameter> is

less than one, the wait interval is set to one second.

</para>

<para>

By default, <command>host</command> will wait for 5

seconds for UDP responses and 10 seconds for TCP

connections. These defaults can be overridden by

the <parameter>timeout</parameter> option

in <filename>/etc/resolv.conf</filename>.

</para>

<para>

See also the <option>-w</option> option.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

</refsection>

<refsection><info><title>IDN SUPPORT</title></info>

<para>

If <command>host</command> has been built with IDN (internationalized

domain name) support, it can accept and display non-ASCII domain names.

<command>host</command> appropriately converts character encoding of

domain name before sending a request to DNS server or displaying a

reply from the server.

If you'd like to turn off the IDN support for some reason, defines

the <envar>IDN_DISABLE</envar> environment variable.

The IDN support is disabled if the variable is set when

<command>host</command> runs.

</para>

</refsection>

<refsection><info><title>FILES</title></info>

<para><filename>/etc/resolv.conf</filename>

</para>

</refsection>

<refsection><info><title>SEE ALSO</title></info>

<para><citerefentry>

<refentrytitle>dig</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum>

</citerefentry>,

<citerefentry>

<refentrytitle>named</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>

</citerefentry>.

</para>

</refsection>

</refentry>