How can I check to see if DNS is working?

Dont use “ping” to test DNS. Use tools called “nslookup” and “dig”.

Check to see whether or not your registrar is pointing your domain to the correct nameservers. The “whois” information is often wrong, and should not be used. Go to a command prompt/console and enter the command:

nslookup -type=NS yourdomainname.com

If the response does not contain all of the correct name servers, then you should contact your registrar and have them fix it.

Check to see whether a particular server is responding, you can add the server name:

nslookup www.yourdomainname.com ns1.yournameserver.com

If the response has a bunch of ‘root-servers’ that means the server does not know about the domain name and is referring you elsewhere.

To look for a certain record type, like the “MX” record or the “SOA” record, you can use the parameter “-type=MX” or “-type=SOA”.

nslookup -type=MX yourdomainname.com

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