What Is a DNS Resolution Journey?
When you type dnsbil.com into a browser, a small journey starts behind the scenes. The resolver first asks one of the 13 root DNS servers. The root server does not know the answer but points to the servers responsible for .com. Those in turn name the domain's authoritative servers, and the real answer comes from there.
This tool runs exactly that chain for you. It shows in the browser what dig +trace does: which server each step goes to, how many milliseconds it takes, and what the server replies. The queries bypass caches and start straight from the root servers.
How Do I Read the Results?
The root server step is usually the fastest and refers you to the TLD. The TLD server returns the domain's name servers. The authoritative server returns the final answer. The total shows how long an uncached resolution can take; in real life, resolvers skip most of these steps thanks to caching.
If a step shows a CNAME, the name being looked up is an alias for another name and the journey starts over with the new name. For sites behind a CDN (e.g. www.microsoft.com) this chain can be several links long.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the same as dig +trace?
It works the same way: it starts at the root, follows referrals and measures every step. Timings are measured from the DNSBil server and may differ from your location.
Why do the timings change on every run?
A random root and TLD server is picked each time. Network path and server load also affect the timing.
Which record types can I try?
A, AAAA, MX, NS, TXT and CNAME.