NS Record Lookup
Find the authoritative name servers responsible for a domain.
Your input is used for this one lookup only. It is not logged or stored.
What is an NS record?
NS records name the servers that are authoritative for a zone — the machines that hold the real answers for a domain. They exist in two places at once: in the parent zone, where the registry delegates the domain to them, and in the zone itself. When those two sets disagree, resolution becomes unpredictable.
Fields in an NS record
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Name | The zone being delegated, for example example.com. |
| TTL | Seconds a resolver may cache the delegation. Often long — 86400 is common. |
| Name server | Hostname of an authoritative server, such as ns1.example-dns.net. |
How to read the results
Each row is one authoritative name server. The set should match exactly what your registrar has on file — that is the delegation the rest of the internet follows. Order carries no meaning: NS records are unordered, and resolvers pick between them on their own measured latency.
Rules worth knowing
- Publish at least two name servers, ideally on separate networks. Most registries require it.
- The NS set in the zone should match the delegation held by the parent registry. A mismatch is called a lame delegation.
- NS records commonly carry long TTLs, so a nameserver change can take a day or more to be picked up everywhere.
- A name server hostname inside the zone it serves needs a glue record at the registry, otherwise resolution is circular.
Common problems
| What you see | Usual cause |
|---|---|
| Nameserver change has not taken effect | The old delegation is still cached, and NS TTLs are long. Compare across resolvers with the DNS Propagation Checker. |
| SERVFAIL | Often a lame delegation — the delegated servers do not answer for the zone — or a DNSSEC mismatch after a transfer. |
| The list does not match my registrar | You are seeing the zone’s own NS set, which the parent delegation overrides. Update both so they agree. |
| Only one name server | A single point of failure. If it is unreachable the entire domain disappears, including its mail. |
Look up another record type
Each record type has its own page with the same explanation of its fields, or use the full DNS Lookup to query every common type at once.
Most often looked up alongside NS: SOA Record Lookup , A Record Lookup , CNAME Record Lookup .
Data source: Public DNS-over-HTTPS resolvers. Queries go to the selected public resolver; results reflect that resolver’s cache. Learn about our data sources →