The nslookup command is specifically designed to query DNS servers to obtain domain name or IP address mapping. It is an essential utility for network diagnostics. The ping command, while it can resolve an IP from a domain name, is primarily used to check if a host is reachable on an IP network. The traceroute command maps the journey that a packet takes from the source to the destination, and netstat displays network connections, routing tables, and a number of network interface statistics, none of which directly query DNS servers like nslookup does.