Reverse Domain Name System (DNS) lookup (also known as rDNS) is a process to determine the hostname associated with a given IP address. It is part of the behavior of the DNS. Its main function is to translate the numeric addresses(IP addresses)of the websites to domain or host names, as opposed to the Forward DNS process. Reverse DNS is separate from forward DNS. Many internet mail servers use reverse DNS to confirm that the server trying to deliver mail to them is genuine, this can help to reduce amount of spam that comes in to their network. Follow the following steps to check or test reverse DNS on linux and Windows operating system.
1. To Check or Test Reverse DNS on Linux operating system :
host <IP Address>
Example :
[root@centos63 ~]# host 184.173.214.97
97.214.173.184.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer 184.173.214.97-static.reverse.softlayer.com.
2. To Check or Test Reverse DNS on Windows Operating system :
C:\>nslookup <IP Address>
C:\>nslookup 184.173.214.97
Server: google-public-dns-a.google.com
Address: 8.8.8.8
Name: 184.173.214.97-static.reverse.softlayer.com
Address: 184.173.214.97