Which utility is commonly used to perform DNS lookups and can query specific record types?

• A. Dig
• B. Nslookup
• C. Host command
• D. Ping

Answer: (C)

DNS lookup utilities allow you to request specific types of DNS records, not just resolve a hostname to an IP. The host command is a simple, straightforward tool designed for quick DNS queries and it can target exactly the record type you need using the -t option. For example, you can run host -t A example.com to retrieve IPv4 addresses, or host -t MX example.com to find mail exchange servers. This focused ability to pull specific records makes it a practical choice for quickly inspecting what a domain publishes in DNS. Other tools like dig are more feature-rich and commonly used for deeper debugging, nslookup is older and less consistent across platforms, and Ping doesn’t query DNS records at all.