100-890 · Question #19
Which network administration command-line tool is available in many computer operating systems for querying the Domain Name System (DNS)?
The correct answer is A. nslookup. See the full explanation below for the reasoning.
Question
Which network administration command-line tool is available in many computer operating systems for querying the Domain Name System (DNS)?
Options
- Anslookup
- Bping
- Cnetstat -a
- Dtraceroute
How the community answered
(48 responses)- A83% (40)
- B4% (2)
- C2% (1)
- D10% (5)
Community Discussion
6
Mateus R.Feb 24, 2026Think of DNS like a giant phone book that converts friendly names like "google.com" into the actual numbered addresses computers use to reach each other. The answer is A, nslookup, because that is the tool specifically built to flip open that phone book and ask it questions, and it has been available on Windows, Linux, and macOS for decades for exactly that purpose. The other options do real jobs but completely different ones, ping checks whether a host responds at all (like knocking on a door to see if anyone is home), netstat -a shows you the open and active connections on your own machine, and traceroute maps out the hops a packet takes to reach its destination. When a question says "querying DNS," your brain should go straight to nslookup, full stop.
Wesley A.Feb 24, 2026dig is worth keeping in your back pocket too since it gives you more granular output and is often preferred for scripted DNS troubleshooting, but nslookup is absolutely the right answer on the exam.
Wesley A.Mar 5, 2026nslookup is the answer, but I want to call out why ping trips people up here, because ping does technically send DNS queries when you give it a hostname, so on a rushed read you might convince yourself it "queries DNS." The question is asking specifically about a tool designed for DNS querying, and that is nslookup, not a connectivity tester that happens to resolve names as a side effect.
Imani T.Mar 6, 2026Wesley nailed the distinction, though if we are being thorough, dig is worth mentioning alongside nslookup since a lot of the study guides treat them as interchangeable and some exams will accept either.
Imani T.Feb 18, 2026nslookup is the one, been using it since before I even touched a cert book. You type a hostname and it fires a query straight at the DNS server and hands you back the IP, which is exactly why it shows up on exams and in real troubleshooting sessions constantly.
Mateus R.Feb 20, 2026nslookup gets the job done, but think of it like asking a store clerk for directions, where the clerk already has a map cached in their head and may not re-check the latest one, so if you want to confirm what the authoritative DNS server actually says right now, dig with the +trace flag is the tow truck that follows the whole chain from root to final answer.