NAME

Net::DNS - Perl interface to the DNS resolver

DESCRIPTION

Net::DNS is a collection of Perl modules to interface with the Domain Name System (DNS) resolver. It allows the programmer to perform queries that are beyond the capabilities of gethostbyname and gethostbyaddr.

Resolver Objects

A resolver object is an instance of the Net::DNS::Resolver class. A program can have multiple resolver objects, each maintaining its own state information such as the nameservers to be queried, whether recursion is desired, etc.

Packet Objects

Net::DNS::Resolver queries return Net::DNS::Packet objects. Packet objects have five sections:

• The header section, a Net::DNS::Header object.

• The question section, a list of Net::DNS::Question objects.

• The answer section, a list of Net::DNS::RR objects.

• The authority section, a list of Net::DNS::RR objects.

• The additional section, a list of Net::DNS::RR objects.

Header Objects

Net::DNS::Header objects represent the header section of a DNS packet.

Question Objects

Net::DNS::Question objects represent the query section of a DNS packet.

RR Objects

Net::DNS::RR is the base class for DNS resource record (RR) objects in the answer, authority, and additional sections of a DNS packet.

EXAMPLES

These examples show how to use the DNS modules:

# Look up a host's addresses.
use Net::DNS::Resolver;
$res = new Net::DNS::Resolver;
$query = $res->search("foo.bar.com");
foreach $record ($query->answer) {
    print $record->address, "\n";
}

# Find the nameservers for a domain.
use Net::DNS::Resolver;
$res = new Net::DNS::Resolver;
$query = $res->query("foo.com", "NS");
foreach $nameserver ($query->answer) {
    print $nameserver->nsdname, "\n";
}

# Find the MX records for a domain.
use Net::DNS::Resolver;
$res = new Net::DNS::Resolver;
$query = $res->query("foo.com", "MX");
foreach $mxhost ($query->answer) {
    print $mxhost->preference, " ", $mxhost->exchange, "\n";
}

# Print a domain's SOA record in zone file format.
use Net::DNS::Resolver;
$res = new Net::DNS::Resolver;
$query = $res->query("foo.com", "SOA");
($query->answer)[0]->print;

BUGS

TCP transfers are not yet implemented. Zone transfers won't be possible until they are.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 1997 Michael Fuhr. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO

perl(1), Net::DNS::Resolver, Net::DNS::Packet, Net::DNS::Header, Net::DNS::Question, Net::DNS::RR, RFC 1035