What is Tess King attempting with the nslookup command?

• A. Query for A records only.
• B. Perform a zone transfer to list all DNS information for a domain.
• C. Check MX records.
• D. Do a reverse DNS lookup.

Answer: (B)

nslookup can query DNS in several ways, including asking for a full zone transfer. A zone transfer (AXFR) requests the entire DNS zone from the domain’s nameserver, returning all records it holds—A, MX, NS, SRV, and more—giving a complete view of the domain’s DNS configuration. That’s the behavior described by performing a zone transfer: you’re not just asking for a single record type, but pulling the whole zone data.

The other options are more targeted: querying A records returns only IP mappings for hosts, checking MX records focuses on mail servers, and a reverse DNS lookup maps an IP back to a domain. Those don’t pull the full zone, which is why the zone transfer option is the best fit here.