Flush DNS’s Cache

Looking for a way to flush your DNS’s cache?

It’s as easy as:

sudo lookupd -flushcache

ipconfig /flushdns

Update: This command has changed in Leopard. Use the following command:
dscacheutil -flushcache

 
 

Submitted on July 29, 2005 at 5:44 pm - Flush DNS’s Cache was written by Brad Jasper - There have been 9 comments - Categorized in Advanced Tips, Terminal Tips

9 Responses to “Flush DNS’s Cache”

1. 
   Trackback
   Surf 11

   Flush DNS Cache on Mac OSX

   August 2nd, 2005 at 8:55 am
   
   
2. 
   weee
   Um, what exactly does this do? I'm a serious n00b - and a recent switcher. But I'd like to get learn and start to use the terminal and stuff. So, um, thanks? August 3rd, 2005 at 6:00 pm
   
   
3. 
   Brad
   Basically when you send a request (like google.com) to a DNS server, it gives you an IP address (like 255.255.255.255). When you flush the DNS cache, you're telling the DNS server to actually check for an updated IP address instead of using the old cache file.
   
   Hopefully I explained that alright. August 4th, 2005 at 3:18 am
   
   
4. 
   R
   'sudo' shouldn't be necessary. August 4th, 2005 at 8:27 am
   
   
5. 
   Bill
   Hmm, no workie....
   
   $ sudo lookupd -flushcache
   sudo: lookupd: command not found December 7th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
   
   
6. 
   Brad Jasper
   Bill, Try a 'whereis lookupd' and using the full path to lookupd. December 7th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
   
   
7. 
   chrisb
   This changed in Mac OSX Leopard 10.5 to
   dscacheutil -flushcache
   see the man page for dscacheutil: man dscacheutil December 7th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
   
   
8. 
   Brad Jasper
   Thanks for the reply chrisb, I'll update the post to reflect the changes. December 7th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
   
   
9. 
   Rob
   Or, you could use this handy dandy little GUI app "DNS Flusher":
   
   http://homepage.mac.com/minge/dnsflusher/ April 13th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
   
   

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