host is a simple tool capable of gathering information and testing name resolution. It is installed on most Linux distributions. host is one of the simplest DNS lookup utilities. If the host command is used without any option, it prints the short summary for its argument DNS lookup.
The example of host command are shown in command line here:
# host www.example.com # host 8.8.8.8
Syntax
The basic syntax is:
# host {domain name}
The command host {domain name} {IP address} will resolve the domain name against the DNS server specified by the IP address.
If you encounter the below error while running the host command:
host: command not found
you may try installing the below package as per your choice of distribution:
| OS Distribution | Command |
|---|---|
| Debian | apt-get install bind9-host |
| Ubuntu | apt-get install bind9-host |
| Arch Linux | pacman -S bind9-host |
| Kali Linux | apt-get install bind9-host |
| CentOS | yum install bind9-host |
| Fedora | dnf install bind9-host |
| Raspbian | apt-get install bind9-host |
host Command Examples
1. Lookup A, AAAA, and MX records of a domain:
# host domain
2. Lookup a field (CNAME, TXT,…) of a domain:
# host -t field domain
3. Reverse lookup an IP:
# host ip_address
4. Specify an alternate DNS server to query:
# host domain 8.8.8.8