It’s been a while since I last updated. A very long while, but I will try and post stuff a little more often.
Dig is a DNS tool used to grab information about DNS records – it’s usually used for diagnosis — for instance, making sure that the IP address is correct for a given domain name.
Dig is usually installed by default if you choose one of the more “complete” installation options, but if you choose the minimal install in Centos 6 (and possibly earlier versions) like I did, then like many things, it won’t be installed.
Luckily though, dig is easily installed as part of the bind-utils package on Centos (this may be different on other Linux distributions such as Debian).
From your command line prompt, simply enter:
yum install bind-utils
Yum will then go off and check stuff such as whether you need to install extra software/packages required by the application you’re installing (known a “dependencies” in Linux speak),
You will see something like the code below (don’t worry, you won’t have to enter all of this – it’s only there to give you an idea of what to expect):
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile * base: mirror.bytemark.co.uk * extras: mirror.bytemark.co.uk * updates: mirror.bytemark.co.uk Setting up Install Process Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package bind-utils.i686 32:9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3 will be installed --> Processing Dependency: bind-libs = 32:9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3 for package: 32:bind-utils-9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3.i686 --> Processing Dependency: liblwres.so.60 for package: 32:bind-utils-9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3.i686 --> Processing Dependency: libisccfg.so.62 for package: 32:bind-utils-9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3.i686 --> Processing Dependency: libisccc.so.60 for package: 32:bind-utils-9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3.i686 --> Processing Dependency: libisc.so.62 for package: 32:bind-utils-9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3.i686 --> Processing Dependency: libdns.so.69 for package: 32:bind-utils-9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3.i686 --> Processing Dependency: libbind9.so.60 for package: 32:bind-utils-9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3.i686 --> Running transaction check ---> Package bind-libs.i686 32:9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3 will be installed --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ====================================================================================================================== Package Arch Version Repository Size ====================================================================================================================== Installing: bind-utils i686 32:9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3 updates 177 k Installing for dependencies: bind-libs i686 32:9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3 updates 851 k Transaction Summary ====================================================================================================================== Install 2 Package(s) Total download size: 1.0 M Installed size: 2.6 M Is this ok [y/N]:
In this case,
bind-libs
is depended upon by
bind-utils
and also needs to be installed.
You are asked if this is OK. If you are happy to continue, type “y” and enter.
You will see something like this:
Downloading Packages: (1/2): bind-libs-9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3.i686.rpm | 851 kB 00:00 (2/2): bind-utils-9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3.i686.rpm | 177 kB 00:00 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 1.0 MB/s | 1.0 MB 00:01 Running rpm_check_debug Running Transaction Test Transaction Test Succeeded Running Transaction Installing : 32:bind-libs-9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3.i686 1/2 Installing : 32:bind-utils-9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3.i686 2/2 Installed: bind-utils.i686 32:9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3 Dependency Installed: bind-libs.i686 32:9.7.3-8.P3.el6_2.3 Complete! [root@centosdev ~]#
And that's it, job done!
Of course, you can also install other software this way and not just dig!