DNS Trace
Trace DNS resolution from the root servers to the authoritative nameserver.
Each server is queried directly with recursion off, starting at a root server. The final lookup through this server's own resolver is labelled separately.
Enter a domain to trace its DNS resolution
See each hop from the root servers to the authoritative nameserver.
DNS Trace follows the delegation chain from the root DNS system to the authoritative nameserver for the domain, showing where the final answer comes from. Every query is sent directly to the server named at each step, with recursion turned off, so each step shows exactly what that server said.
A trace normally has three hops: a root server refers you to the TLD's servers (for example .com), a TLD server refers you to the domain's own nameservers, and one of those nameservers answers with the record itself and the authoritative flag set. When a hop fails, the trace shows which server, and why: no response, a refusal, a server that does not know the zone, or a delegation that never reaches an answer.
The same record is also looked up through this server's normal recursive resolver, and the two are compared. When the authoritative servers answer but the recursive resolver does not, the difference points to resolver-side problems such as DNSSEC validation failures or stale caches. Use DNS Lookup for the full record set and DNS Propagation to compare public resolvers.