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/

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(1)