network protocols - Code to do a direct DNS lookup

Question

I'm thinking of running an experiment to track DNS values in different ways (like how often they change and whatnot). To do this I will need to be able to make a DNS request directly to a server so that 1) I known what server it came from, 2) I can request responses from several servers and 3) I can avoid the local OS run cache.

Does anyone know of a library (c#, D, C, C++ in that order of preference) that will let me directly query a DNS server? Failing that, does anyone know of a easy to understand description of the DNS protocol that I could implement such a system from?

Answer 1

For C, I'd go with http://cr.yp.to/djbdns/blurb/library.html (the low-level parts if you need total control, i.e. dns_transmit* and friends) -- for C#, maybe http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/ivxivx/DNSClient12122005234612PM/DNSClient.aspx (can't test that one right now, whence the "maybe"!).