System Resolver

Doggo interacts with your system’s DNS resolver configuration and provides options to customize this behavior. This page explains how Doggo handles ndots, search domains, and resolver strategies.

Reading from /etc/resolv.conf

By default, Doggo reads configuration from your system’s /etc/resolv.conf file. This includes:

List of nameservers
The ndots value
Search domains

ndots Configuration

The ndots option sets the threshold for the number of dots that must appear in a name before an initial absolute query will be made.

When using the system nameserver, Doggo reads the ndots value from /etc/resolv.conf.
If not using the system nameserver, it defaults to 1.
You can override this with the --ndots flag:

$ doggo example --ndots=2

This affects how Doggo handles non-fully qualified domain names.

Search Configuration

The search configuration allows Doggo to append domain names to queries that are not fully qualified.

By default, Doggo uses the search list defined in resolv.conf.
You can disable this behavior with --search=false:

$ doggo example --search=false

When search is enabled and a query is not fully qualified, Doggo will try appending domains from the search list.

Resolver Strategy

The resolver strategy determines how Doggo uses the nameservers listed in /etc/resolv.conf. You can specify a strategy using the --strategy flag:

$ doggo example.com --strategy=first

Available strategies:

all (default): Use all nameservers listed in /etc/resolv.conf.
first: Use only the first nameserver in the list.
random: Randomly choose one nameserver from the list for each query. This can help distribute the load across multiple nameservers.

Command-line Options

--ndots=INT             Specify ndots parameter. Takes value from /etc/resolv.conf if using the system nameserver or 1 otherwise.
--search                Use the search list defined in resolv.conf. Defaults to true. Set --search=false to disable search list.
--strategy=STRATEGY     Specify strategy to query nameservers listed in /etc/resolv.conf. Options: all, first, random. Defaults to all.
--timeout=DURATION    Set the timeout for resolver responses (e.g., 5s, 400ms, 1m).

Examples

Use system resolver with default settings:
Terminal window
```
doggo example.com
```
Use system resolver but change ndots and disable search:
Terminal window
```
doggo example --ndots=2 --search=false
```
Use system resolver with ‘first’ strategy and custom timeout:
Terminal window
```
doggo example.com --strategy=first --timeout=2s
```
Override system resolver and use specific nameservers:
Terminal window
```
doggo example.com @1.1.1.1 @8.8.8.8
```
Note: When specifying nameservers directly, the system resolver configuration (including strategy) is not used.

You can find more examples at Examples section.