DNS Detective — Verifying Mail Routing with `nslookup`

Aldermere Outfitters · pre-migration mail-routing check

N10-007 · 1.8 N10-007 · 5.2 AP NET · 4.2.A AP NET · 4.3.A

analyst-ws ~ secure shell

resolver: resolver.aldermere.net

Try nslookup aldermere.net, set a record type with nslookup -type=mx aldermere.net, point a query at a specific server with nslookup -type=mx aldermere.net ns-edge.brackenhost.net, or enter interactive mode by typing nslookup alone (then set type=mx, server <name>, a hostname, or exit). Type help for the command list.

Your assignment

You're a junior network analyst at Aldermere Outfitters, an outdoor-gear retailer about to move its email to a new provider. Before the cutover, the lead engineer asks you to confirm how internet mail is currently routed to the company mail server for aldermere.net, and to verify that the records the company's own resolver returns match what the domain's external authoritative name server reports. Work entirely from the terminal.

Tasks — auto-checked

Find the primary IP. Ask the default resolver for the A record of aldermere.net.
Find the mail exchanger. Query the MX record for the domain.
Resolve the mail host. Look up the A record of the mail exchanger you found.
Confirm externally. Repeat a query against ns-edge.brackenhost.net and check it agrees.

Report your findings

Q1Primary (A record) IP address of aldermere.net?

Q2Fully-qualified hostname of the mail exchanger?

Q3IP address of that mail server?

Q4MX preference (priority) value on that record?

Q5Does ns-edge.brackenhost.net report the same mail exchanger? (yes / no)

Simulated environment for instruction only. Addresses use the documentation ranges reserved by RFC 5737 (192.0.2.0/24, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24). “Aldermere Outfitters,” aldermere.net, and brackenhost.net are fictional. © 2026 [AUTHOR NAME]. [LICENSE]. Original clean-room content — not derived from any vendor lab.