Network X-Ray > Documentation > DNS Window

Overview

The DNS window has three main sections: controls, dns messages, and a details section.

Initially the DNS window isn’t on the screen. To bring the DNS window to the screen, click the “Window” menu, and then click “Show DNS”.

Controls

The controls section at the top of the window has three checkboxes and a button.

“Auto scroll”, when checked, will cause the DNS message list to automatically scroll to a newly added DNS message. If you want to investigate DNS messages, disabling auto scroll is a good idea; otherwise, the list may change as you try to click on a message.

“DNS”, when checked, will add regular DNS messages to the DNS message list. Usually these are queries to convert a hostname to an IP address, but there are other types of queries as well. Most of the time you want this checked.

“mDNS”, when checked, will add multicast DNS messages to the DNS message list. Multicast DNS shows a lot of chatter between devices on your network.

DNS message list

The DNS message list shows a summary of DNS messages. Selecting a message will display details about that DNS message in the details section.

The “Date” column shows when the DNS message was observed. The time is shown in the GMT timezone.

The “Answer” column shows if the DNS message is an answer. If this field is empty, the DNS message is a query. DNS answers are usually the most interesting.

The “Question” column shows the value that was queried for. Usually this is a name of the host your system wants to connect to.

Details section

The bottom section shows the details for the selected DNS message. The details section will begin with a fixed DNS header, usually followed by one or more questions your system is querying (e.g., a hostname), and, if it is an answer message, followed by a series of answers or additional information.