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dig: couldn't get address for 'ns1.example.com': not found

The commands on this page have not been executed by our verification runner yet.updated
tool
dig / nslookup
exit code
1
versions
BIND 9.16, BIND 9.18+, BIND 9.20
os
linux, macos, windows

dig: couldn't get address for 'ns1.example.com': not found means dig could not turn the server name you gave after @ into an IP address, so it never sent your query. The problem is the server name (or your system resolver), not the name you are looking up. Put the server's IP address after @, or fix the server name. dig stops immediately with a non-zero exit status.

Where the message comes from

dig resolves the @server argument with the operating system's resolver before it builds the query. If that lookup fails, getaddresses() in bin/dig/dighost.c calls fatal("couldn't get address for '%s': %s", ...), where the last part is the BIND result text, usually not found. Messages from fatal() are prefixed with the program name (dig:) and go to standard error.

bash
dig @ns1.example.com example.com A        # fails if ns1.example.com does not resolve
dig @192.0.2.53 example.com A             # an address skips the lookup
dig +short ns1.example.com                # check the server name itself
dig @192.0.2.53 -p 5353 example.com A     # a non-standard port goes in -p

Replace the names and addresses with your own; 192.0.2.53 is a documentation address.

Common mistakes after @

WrittenUse instead
@1.1.1.1:53@1.1.1.1 (port 53 is the default) or @1.1.1.1 -p 53
@https://cloudflare-dns.com/dns-query@1.1.1.1 +https (BIND 9.18+ for DNS over HTTPS)
@ns1.exmaple.comThe correctly spelled name, or its IP address
@ns1 (a short name)The fully qualified name, since search domains may not apply

With +trace

During +trace, dig follows the delegation from the root and must resolve the name of each name server it is referred to. If a zone's NS record points to a name without an address (no glue and no A/AAAA record), dig prints couldn't get address for 'NAME': not found for that name server, on standard output and without the dig: prefix, and continues with the other name servers. It stops with the fatal form only when none of them resolves. Check the delegation at the parent zone (dig NS example.com @a.gtld-servers.net) and the A/AAAA records of the listed name servers.

Exit status

In current BIND versions (9.18 and later) a fatal() error exits with status 1 when nothing else has set an exit code. The dig manual lists exit status 10 for internal errors; older releases returned 10 for this message, so scripts should treat any non-zero status as a failure.

Sources

Related pages

errors · digdig: ;; connection timed out; no servers could be reacheddig got no reply from any DNS server: a down resolver, blocked port 53 or no network. Compare with dig @1.1.1.1, check resolv.conf and try +tcp. Exit code 9.errors · dig;; communications error to 127.0.0.1#53: connection refuseddig reached the host but nothing listens for DNS on that port, often a stopped local resolver on 127.0.0.53. Start it, fix resolv.conf or use -p for the port.flags · digdig +trace: follow DNS delegation from the root serversdig +trace follows the delegation from the root servers down to the authoritative ones, step by step. Use it to find broken NS records and skip resolver caches.cheat sheets · digdig cheat sheet: DNS lookups from the command linedig cheat sheet: query A, AAAA, MX, TXT and NS records, ask a specific server, use +short, +trace and -x, and read NOERROR, NXDOMAIN and SERVFAIL statuses.