Networking Chapter 10 Lab DNS Resolution

Name:
____________________________________________________________________________________

Part 1: Observe the DNS Conversion of a URL to an IP Address

1. Go to the command prompt.
2. Ping www.icann.net.
ICANN coordinates the DNS, IP addresses, top-level domain name
system management, and root server system management functions.
3. The first line of the output displays www.icann.net converted to an IP
address by DNS. This is what DNS does; converts the name to an IP
address.

4. Now ping www.twitter.com.

a. What is the IP address of twitter? TAKE A SCREEN CAPTURE AND
PASTE YOUR RESULTS BELOW.

5. Type the IP address of ICANN into your web browser, instead of the
URL. The ICANN web page displays.
6. Type the IP address of Twitter into your web browser, instead of the
URL. The Twitter web page displays.
Part 2: Observe DNS Lookup Using the Nslookup Command on a
Web Site
1. Go to the command prompt and type nslookup.
2. What is the default DNS server being used?
& PASTE IT BELOW.

TAKE A SCREEN CAPTURE

3. Notice the > prompt. You are now in nslookup mode.

4. Type www.twitter.com. What is/are the translated IP addresses?
TAKE A SCREEN CAPTURE & PASTE IT BELOW.

a. Are any of them the same as when you pinged it in the step
above?
YES NO
b. Why are there extra IP addresses for Twitter?

5. At the > prompt, type one of the IP addresses you learned of from
Twitter.

You can use nslookup to get the domain name of an IP address if you
dont know the URL. TAKE A SCREEN CAPTURE & PASTE IT BELOW.

6. Use the nslookup tool to find out the IP addresses for www.google.com.
TAKE A SCREEN CAPTURE & PASTE IT BELOW.

Part 3: Observe DNS Lookup Using the Nslookup Command on Mail

Servers
1. At the prompt, type set type=mx to use nslookup to identify mail
servers.
2. Now enter gcecnj.org. You will see GCITs email server information.
How many mail servers does GCIT have?
__________
TAKE A SCREEN CAPTURE & PASTE IT BELOW.

3. Now enter gccnj.edu. How many mail servers do they have? _______
TAKE A SCREEN CAPTURE & PASTE IT BELOW.

If one of the mail servers is unreachable, then the computer making the
query tries the second mail server. Email administrators determine which
mail server is contacted first using MX preference. The mail server with
the lowest MX preference is contacted first.
4. On your school computer, go to the command prompt and type
ipconfig /all. What is the address of the DNS server used in school?
______________________________

Reflection
1. What is the purpose of DNS?