Resolver walks the hierarchy and stores the answer.
INTERACTIVE NETWORK LAB
See what happens after you press Enter.
Trace a DNS request from your device to the authoritative answer, then interrupt it with cache and blocklist rules.
TOTAL QUERIES24
CACHED9
BLOCKED4
NXDOMAIN2
ANATOMY OF A LOOKUP
A resolver asks the internet for you.
Your device asks one question. A recursive resolver may ask several servers before it can return the final IP address.
YOUR DEVICE10.0.0.8
RESOLVER192.168.1.1
ROOT.
TLD SERVER.com
AUTHORITATIVEns1.example.com
THE CACHE
Most fast answers are remembered answers.
A TTL tells the resolver how long an answer may stay in cache before it must ask again.
example.com • AFRESH
TTL 3600 • 93.184.216.34
Answer returns directly from local cache.
DNS-LEVEL BLOCKING
Stop a destination before a connection starts.
A blocklist lets the resolver intercept known ad, tracking, or malware-style domains and return no usable destination.
Sample blocklist
Try:
github.com
cdn.example.com
ads.tracker-example.com
pixel.analytics-example.net
malware.bad-example.org
DEVICE
RESOLVER
INTERNET
BLOCKED • 0.0.0.0
The resolver matched this domain before recursion and returned a sink address. No connection to the destination begins.
TWO DIFFERENT JOBS
Recursive asks. Authoritative knows.
The researcher
Accepts a client question, follows referrals, caches answers, applies local policy, and returns a complete result.
CLIENTRESOLVERMANY SERVERS
The source of truth
Publishes records for zones it controls. It answers from its own data and does not go searching on the client’s behalf.
RESOLVERAUTH NSZONE DATA
PACKET CHECK
Can you route the answer?
Six short scenarios test cache, recursion, authority, and blocking.
QUESTION 1 OF 6