DNS from the client side
How Windows resolves names, and how to prove whether a problem is the DNS server, the record, the client's cache, the hosts file or the suffix settings.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- About 50 minutes
- Contents
- 3 lessons · 1 video · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 1 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Explain the order Windows uses to resolve a name (hosts file, cache, DNS servers, suffixes)
- Choose between nslookup and Resolve-DnsName and interpret their output
- Distinguish NXDOMAIN, SERVFAIL-style failures and timeouts
- Clear stale results safely (cache, negative cache) and find hosts-file overrides
Course outline
- 1.DNS from the client sideVideo · 5 min
- 2.How Windows resolves a nameLesson · 14 min
- 3.nslookup vs Resolve-DnsName, hosts, suffixes and split DNSLesson · 16 min
- 4.Caches, negative answers and split DNSLesson · 13 min
- 5.DNS from the client side: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 16 questions
- 6.DNS from the client side: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 7.Reaches servers by IP but not by nameScenario
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- RFC 1034: Domain Names: Concepts and Facilities
- RFC 2308: Negative Caching of DNS Queries
- Microsoft Learn: Resolve-DnsName cmdlet reference
- Microsoft Learn: nslookup command reference
- Microsoft Learn: ipconfig command reference
See it with your own jobs and topics
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