How to obtain Internet Mail Exchanger records with the Nslookup.exe Utility (203204)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5
  • Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0
  • Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0
  • Microsoft Commercial Internet System 1.0
  • Microsoft Commercial Internet System 2.0
  • Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, when used with:
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 2000
    • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
This article was previously published under Q203204

SUMMARY

When you troubleshoot Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) problems, you may want to obtain the Domain Name System (DNS) records for the SMTP domain in question. You can use the Nslookup.exe utility to collect this information.

MORE INFORMATION

Requirements

DNS must be configured properly on the computer running the Nslookup.exe utility. If DNS is not configured, an error message is displayed when the Nslookup.exe utility starts.

Steps to Use the Nslookup.exe Utility

  1. Open a command prompt.
  2. Type the following:

    nslookup

  3. Type the following:

    set q=mx

    This sets a filter to only collect Internet Mail Exchanger (MX) records and related information.
  4. Type the following

    domain_name.com

    where domain_name is the domain that you want to obtain the DNS records for, for example, microsoft.com or msn.com.
An output similar to the following is displayed:

Server: [157.178.72.30]
Address: 157.178.72.30

microsoft.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mail1.microsoft.com
microsoft.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mail2.microsoft.com
microsoft.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mail3.microsoft.com
microsoft.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mail4.microsoft.com
microsoft.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mail5.microsoft.com
mail1.microsoft.com internet address = 131.107.3.125
mail2.microsoft.com internet address = 131.107.3.124
mail3.microsoft.com internet address = 131.107.3.123
mail4.microsoft.com internet address = 131.107.3.122
mail5.microsoft.com internet address = 131.107.3.121

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:4/28/2005
Keywords:kbhowto kbnetwork kbsetup kbtshoot KB203204
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