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)