Hi guys,

may i know wats the difference between ping -a and nslookup? In which situation should we use ping -a instead of nslookup and vice versa? I know both can resolve IP address to hostname...

Correct me if i'm wrong

Thanks

Ping sends a request to the client for a response, which will let you know if the machine is on the network if it is configured to respond.

nslookup only queries the configured or selected DNS server for the hostname

does tat mean that ping -a does not require the dns to be alive??

does tat mean that ping -a does not require the dns to be alive??

The "ping" command depends on a DNS server to translate the hostname into an IP address.

so tat means ping -a will actually send a ping packet to the target machine while nslookup will not send any packet to the target machine as it will only query the dns?

so tat means ping -a will actually send a ping packet to the target machine while nslookup will not send any packet to the target machine as it will only query the dns?

You got it. ping -a sends the packet to the target machine, and the nslookup query's the dns.

icic, thanks all for ur help