Ali Abdullah 2021-CE-40

25/02/2024

Exercise #1
1. Run nslookup to obtain the IP address of a Web server of UET.

Run nslookup to determine the authoritative DNS servers for UET.

Run nslookup to determine the mail servers for UET.

Exercise 2

1. Run this command: dig google.com

a. What IP addresses are associated with google.com?
b. Run the same command again. Note that the numbers in the
second column of the
Answer Section change. Wait a few seconds and run it a third
time. What do the
numbers in the second column represent?
a) IP is 142.250.181.174
b) It only modifies the id section. The word "id" stands for "identifier." It is a
special number that is given to every DNS query. This identity is used by the
DNS server to match answers to the relevant query. This identification aids in
monitoring several simultaneous DNS queries and the answers that come back.
 2. Run this command: dig google.com ns
a. What is different about the information provided by this version
of the command?
b. How many name servers are there for google.com?

a) By explicitly querying the Name Servers (NS) for the domain google.com, the dig
google.com ns command will provide the authoritative name servers in charge of the
domain.
However, if you run dig google.com without any other parameters, it will run a
default query for the domain and return a range of data, such as the IP addresses
connected to it, any additional records like TXT or MX records, and the DNS
records' default TTL (time to live).
b) There are four servers for google.com
 3. Run this command google.com mx. What information does the
output of this version of the command provide?

To retrieve the mail exchange (MX) records for the domain google.com, use the command
"google.com mx". The mail server designated by MX records is in charge of receiving
emails on behalf of the domain. Usually, the results of this query show the MX records
connected to the google.com domain. It displays each mail server's priority (greater numbers
denote a higher priority) along with the mail server's domain name. Email delivery systems
use this information to decide which recipients inside the google.com domain to route emails
meant for. It's important to remember, though, that the actual result might change based on
the particular tool or technique utilised to carry out the command.

4.
a. Run a command to find the number of IP addresses that are
associated with yahoo.com.
b. Run a command to find the number of name servers that there are
for yahoo.com.
5. Run this command: dig www.google.com
a. What IP addresses are associated with www.google.com?
b. How many name servers are there for www.google.com?
c. What relationship (if any) do you see between google.com
and www.google.com?

a) IP address associated with www.google.com is 192.178.24.228

b) There are only one server are here for www.google.com
c) Actually they both are hosted on different servers

6. Run this command: dig mail.google.com

a. How many IP addresses are associated with mail.google.com?
b. What relationship (if any) do you see between google.com
and mail.google.com?
a) there is only one IP address associated with mail.google.com

b) dig google.com and dig mail.google.com are related in that they are both commands used to get
DNS data for various subdomains under google.com. Domain is what the dig command stands for.
Domain Name Server data is gathered by Information Groper. It is helpful for both teaching and
debugging networks. dig google.com searches the A record of the root domain google.com,
whereas dig mail.google.com queries the A record of the mail subdomain of google.com. This is
the primary distinction between the two commands. The address record that associates an IP
address with a hostname is called the A record.
7. Run the command: dig microsoft.com
Note the query time :109 msec

a. Repeat the command and note of the query time (46msec)

b. Run the command: dig @ns1.msft.net microsoft.com and note the query time (313 msec)

C Repeat the previous command and note the query time (31 msec)

d. Explain the reasons for any observed differences in the query times
for each of the commands in parts a. - d.
There is a variation of query time may be just because of server load ,Geographical distance
And load balancing ,caching etc…
8. Run each of the following commands and describe what the output represents in
each case (also specify what each domain represents).
a) dig edu
The name server (NS) entries for the.edu domain would be retrieved using this command. If you have
any particular queries concerning DNS or any other subject

b) dig edu ns Digns: The authoritative name servers for the domain "example.com" will be found by
a DNS server query using this command. Substitute the desired domain name for "example.com".
11. Run this command: dig www.mit.edu +trace

a. Summarize what information is provided by the output of the

command that uses the trace option. (Some of the info from 8.a. will be
useful in answering this question.)
A detailed report of the DNS resolution process from the root servers to the authoritative
servers in charge of the requested domain may be obtained by using the `dig} command
with the `+trace} option.

1. The root DNS servers are listed first.

Afterwards, it proceeds to the DNS servers in charge of the top-level domain (in
this example, {.edu{).
3. After that, it provides a list of the official name servers for the particular domain {mit.edu}.
4. Lastly, it displays the canonical name (CNAME) record for the hostname
{www.mit.edu} that was searched.
Every step comprises details on the DNS server that was contacted, the kind of DNS record
that was obtained, the pertinent information linked to that record, and the duration of time it
took to receive the answer.

b. Give the specific path of name servers that provide the

information requested in this query.
The specific path of name servers that provide the information requested
in this query is as follows:
1. Root DNS Servers:
- k.root-servers.net. -
l.root-servers.net.
- m.root-servers.net.
- a.root-servers.net. -
b.root-servers.net. -
c.root-servers.net. -
d.root-servers.net. -
e.root-servers.net. -
f.root-servers.net.
- g.root-servers.net.
- h.root-servers.net.
- i.root-servers.net.
- j.root-servers.net.
2. Top-Level Domain (TLD) DNS Servers for
`.edu`: - a.edu-servers.net.
- b.edu-servers.net.
- c.edu-servers.net.
- d.edu-servers.net.
- e.edu-servers.net.
- f.edu-servers.net.
- g.edu-servers.net.
- h.edu-servers.net.
- i.edu-servers.net.
- j.edu-servers.net.
- k.edu-servers.net.
- l.edu-servers.net.
- m.edu-servers.net.
3. Authoritative DNS Servers for
`mit.edu`: - usw2.akam.net.
- asia1.akam.net.
- asia2.akam.net.
- use2.akam.net.
- ns1-37.akam.net. -
ns1-173.akam.net. -
eur5.akam.net.
- use5.akam.net.
These name servers collectively provide the information requested in the
query, which involves the resolution of the hostname `www.mit.edu`.
c. Repeat the command several times. Look for differences in the
outputs when the command is repeated and explain them.
1. Root DNS Servers: When a query is sent out for the first time, it begins
with `k.root-servers.net}, `l.root-servers.net}, and so on. In the second case,
the inquiry is initiated using distinct root servers, such as {i.root-servers.net},
`j.rootservers.net}, and so forth. This implies that the DNS resolver may be
choosing to

many root servers or switching between them to distribute the load or

provide redundancy.
2. Response Time: Between the first and subsequent tries, there may be
differences in the response timings for requests to various DNS servers.
Compared to the first effort, the second instance appears to have a faster
response time from the root servers to the TLD servers ({edu-servers.net}).
3. Authoritative DNS Servers for {mit.edu}: In both cases, the authoritative
DNS servers for {mit.edu} stay the same, indicating that the domain's
authoritative DNS infrastructure has not changed.
4. Resolved IP Address: {www.mit.edu.edgekey.net} is the resolved IP
address for the hostname {www.mit.edu} that was queried. Nevertheless, the
name servers' IP addresses ({asia1.akam.net}) that supplied this
Due to load balancing or anycast routing, information may differ.
Overall, these changes show how dynamic DNS resolution is, with response
times and DNS server choices changing over time but the fundamental
authoritative DNS infrastructure staying constant.