DNS/ Nslookup question

[Red Squirrel]

When I use nslookup, and I get something like:

>server ns1.server.com
>somehost

server: ns1.server.com
address: [ip of dns]

non-authoriatative answer:
name: [name]
address: [ip]

>


Does it mean that record is NOT hosted on that server, so it's just relaying my request to another? And if it does not say "non-authoriatative answer" then it means that server is hosting that record? Just want to be extra sure as I'm using this to determine if we have a record of a site or not (don't have access to the server to check)

 

[mxnerd]

I might not be qualified to answer your question, but I think you are right about your own statement.

By the way, you might want to take a look at Robtex.com, which has one of the best DNS tools on the web in my opinion.

 

[Nothinman]

Pretty much, yea.

 

[RebateMonger]

Here's Microsoft's explanation:

"The first time a query is made for a remote name, the answer is authoritative, but subsequent queries are nonauthoritative. The first time a remote host is queried, the local DNS server contacts the DNS server that is authoritative for that domain. The local DNS server will then cache that information, so that subsequent queries are answered nonauthoritatively out of the local server's cache."

 

[Nothinman]

Which is pretty much what was said. The only difference is the mention of the caching of replies but that has no affect on whether or not the answer is authoritative.