dnstracer

dnstracer is a Rust implementation of the DNS tracing tool dnstracer. It follows the chain of DNS servers that resolve a domain name. It shows the delegation path from the root DNS servers to the authoritative servers of a domain.

Features

• Traces the DNS delegation path of a domain name.
• Supports IPv4 and IPv6.
• Supports the selection of the DNS query type.
• Follows NS delegations and CNAME chains.
• Shows the DNS servers and the records that they return.

Installation

Requirements

• Rust 1.93 or later
• Cargo, the Rust package manager

Install dnstracer

Install dnstracer with cargo:

cargo install dnstracer

Run

Run dnstracer with a domain name:

dnstracer [OPTIONS] <domain>

Example

dnstracer example.com

This command traces the DNS delegation of example.com. It shows the DNS servers on the path.

Usage

dnstracer [OPTIONS] <domain>

Options

• -c, --no-positive-cache
  • Disable the cache of positive responses (default: enabled)
• -C, --negative-cache
  • Enable the cache of negative responses (default: disabled)
• -e, --no-edns0
  • Disable EDNS0 (default: enabled)
• -o, --overview
  • Show an overview of the received answers (default: disabled)
• -m, --max-queries <MAX_QUERIES>
  • The maximum number of DNS queries for the whole trace [default: 200]
• -q, --query-type <QUERY_TYPE>
  • The record type to query (A, AAAA, NS, ...) [default: A]
• -r, --retries <RETRIES>
  • The number of retries for each DNS request [default: 3]
• -s, --server <SERVER>
  • Start the query at the given DNS server. For an IP address, use that address. For a hostname, use all the IP addresses of that hostname. For ".", use all the root servers [default: a.root-servers.net]
• -t, --timeout <TIMEOUT>
  • The time limit, in seconds, for each try [default: 5]
• -S, --source-address <SOURCE_ADDRESS>
  • The source address of the DNS queries
• -6, --ipv6
  • Use only IPv6 for DNS queries
• -4, --ipv4
  • Use only IPv4 for DNS queries
• -T, --tcp
  • Use only TCP for DNS queries
• -h, --help
  • Print help
• -V, --version
  • Print version

Output

dnstracer shows these items for each DNS server in the delegation chain:

• The IP address and the name of the server.
• If the response is authoritative.
• The DNS records that the server returns.

Sample Output

$ dnstracer www.example.com -o              
Tracing to www.example.com[A] via A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. (198.41.0.4), maximum of 3 retries
A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. [.] (198.41.0.4)
 |\___ a.gtld-servers.net. [com] (192.5.6.30)
 |      |\___ ns1.example.com. [example.com] (192.0.2.1) found authoritative answer
 |      |\___ ns2.example.com. [example.com] (198.51.100.1) found authoritative answer
 |       \___ ns2.example.com. [example.com] (2001:db8::1) found authoritative answer
 |\___ a.gtld-servers.net. [com] (2001:503:a83e::2:30)
 |      |\___ ns1.example.com. [example.com] (192.0.2.1) (cached)
 |      |\___ ns2.example.com. [example.com] (198.51.100.1) (cached)
 |       \___ ns2.example.com. [example.com] (2001:db8::1) (cached)
 |\___ b.gtld-servers.net. [com] (192.33.14.30)
 ...
ns1.example.com. (192.0.2.1) 	www.example.com. 86400 IN A 203.0.113.1
ns2.example.com. (198.51.100.1) 	www.example.com. 86400 IN A 203.0.113.1
ns2.example.com. (2001:db8::1) 	www.example.com. 86400 IN A 203.0.113.1

Contributing

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature.
3. Commit your changes: git commit -am 'Add some feature'.
4. Push the branch: git push origin feature/your-feature.
5. Create a pull request.

License

The MIT License applies to this project. See the LICENSE file.