System administration

zns – fast command-line DNS client

zns is a command-line client for querying DNS records. It presents query results in a concise, readable form while also providing more advanced facilities such as DNSSEC validation and delegation tracing.

A basic query displays the record type, domain name, TTL and returned value in an aligned format. Individual record types can be requested, or several types can be queried together. zns supports the full range of DNS record types rather than concentrating only on common A and AAAA lookups.

The client can perform reverse DNS lookups when given an IP address. It can also trace a DNS delegation iteratively from the root nameservers, showing the nameservers encountered as resolution progresses. This is useful when investigating how a particular domain is delegated.

DNSSEC support goes beyond simply requesting DNSSEC records. zns can validate responses against the DNSSEC chain of trust and identify records as secure, insecure, bogus or unknown. This makes the application useful for diagnosing DNSSEC configuration as well as ordinary name resolution.

A specific resolver can be supplied when you do not want to use the default DNS server. For scripting, zns offers JSON output together with a short-output mode that prints only record values. Failed queries return a non-zero exit status, allowing shell scripts to respond to errors reliably.

Queries can be performed concurrently, and output can also be written to a file. Taken together, these features make zns suitable for both interactive DNS investigation and automated workflows.

This is free and open source software.

Key Features

  • Queries all DNS record types.
  • Provides readable tabular and coloured output.
  • Supports DNSSEC records and chain-of-trust validation.
  • Performs reverse DNS lookups.
  • Traces DNS delegation from the root nameservers.
  • Can query a specific DNS resolver.
  • Provides JSON and values-only output modes.
  • Supports concurrent queries and file output.

Website: github.com/znscli/zns
Support:
Developer: znscli
License: MIT License

zns flags

zns is written in Go. Learn Go with our recommended free books and free tutorials.


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