What is an NS record?
Reviewed by Prabath Thalangama · Last updated
NS records name the authoritative name servers for a domain, the servers that hold its real DNS records. The registrar publishes them in the parent zone and the domain repeats them in its own zone. This lookup lists the name servers currently returned for the domain you enter.
When you move DNS to a new provider, the NS records at the registrar are what actually switch traffic over. Until they change, and until the parent zone's TTL (often 24 to 48 hours) expires, some resolvers keep asking the old servers.
Use at least two name servers on separate networks. If all of them fail, every service on the domain becomes unreachable.
How do I find a domain's name servers?
- Enter the domain, for example example.com.
- Check that the listed servers are your DNS provider's, and that there are at least two.
- If they are wrong, change the name servers at your registrar, not in the DNS zone.
How to read the results
- value
- Each authoritative name server's host name.
- No NS records found
- The domain doesn't exist, has expired, or its delegation is broken.
Common NS problems
Name servers changed but the old ones still answer
The parent zone's NS TTL hasn't expired yet. Keep the old provider's zone identical until the switch completes.
Lame delegation
An NS record points at a server that doesn't host the zone. Remove it at the registrar or add the zone on that server.
dig @ns2.example.net example.com SOA # should return an authoritative answerExamples and command-line equivalents
Compare the parent and child NS sets
dig +short NS example.com
dig +trace NS example.comFrequently asked questions
How many name servers should a domain have?
At least two, as RFC 1034 recommends, preferably on different networks or with an anycast provider. Most providers give you two to four.
Are NS changes the same as DNS propagation?
Changing name servers is the slowest kind of DNS change, because the parent zone's NS records usually have a TTL of a day or two. Record changes inside your zone follow your own, usually shorter, TTLs.
Further reading
- Running BIND 9 as an Authoritative Server
- RFC 1034: Domain Names, Concepts and Facilities
- Run a full Super Scan to check DNS, email, website and TLS for a domain at once.