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DLINT(8)               DragonFly System Manager's Manual              DLINT(8)


NAME

       dlint - Internet Domain Name System (DNS) error checking utility


SYNOPSIS

       dlint [ -n ] zone


DESCRIPTION

       DNS administrators can use dlint to scan recursively through the domain
       records of the fully-qualified zone zone, to get a report on any errors
       therein.  You can scan a zone you own, or anyone else's zone on the
       Internet.  dlint talks directly to a primary or secondary nameserver
       for the zone, to make sure it's working with up-to-date information.

       dlint also suggests ways of fixing problems instead of just complaining
       about them like other debugging tools.

       The argument zone should always have an ending period to indicate it is
       a fully qualified domain name.


OPTIONS

       By default, dlint recursively traverses the entire hierarchy below the
       zone specified.  The -n option may be used to disable recursive
       traversal, causing it to only examine the records in the given zone.
       Note that a zone may or may not contain any number of sub-domains (all
       of which will be checked with or without this option).


EXAMPLES

              example% dlint nau.edu.

       recursively scans the DNS records in zone nau.edu for problems.

              example% dlint 64.114.134.in-addr.arpa.

       recursively scans the DNS records associated with IP subnet
       134.114.64.0 for problems.  You had to already know that 134.114.0.0
       was subnetted.


DIAGNOSTICS

       The output from dlint is computer parsable, each line has a special
       meaning.  Lines beginning with a semicolon (;) are comments only.
       Lines beginning with the phrase ``WARNING'' are useful information that
       you should consider.  A warning is not necessarily an error, but may be
       a problem.  Lines beginning with the phrase ``ERROR'' are definite
       errors and should be dealt with accordingly.


EXIT STATUS

       0      Successful run, no problems encountered with zone.

       1      Successful run, worst problem with zone was a WARNING.

       2      Successful run, worst problem with zone was an ERROR.

       3      Usage error.

       4      A signal interrupted the program run (i.e. user typed interrupt
              key sequence).


BUGS

       Dlint doesn't work behind some firewalls because it needs to talk to a
       root nameserver to get started.

       Dlint uses the zone transfer mechanism (AXFR) which some nameservers
       deny to unauthorized hosts.

       Other nameservers happily return zero records instead of an error, in
       response to an unauthorized AXFR!  That is just wrong.


AUTHOR

       Paul Balyoz <pab@domtools.com>


DISTRIBUTION

       http://www.domtools.com/dns/dlint.shtml


COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 1993-1998 Paul A. Balyoz <pab@domtools.com>

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
       Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
       option) any later version.

       This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
       WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
       General Public License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
       with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
       675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

                                 18 July 1998                         DLINT(8)

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