In the Domain Name System (DNS), the NS record identifies a name server that is responsible for resolving queries for a specific hostname. A host may have multiple name servers, each registering an alternate address location that is responsible for its name server. In order to check the details of the nameserver record, many NS lookup online tools like the one provided by IPlocation.io (iplocation.io/ns-lookup) are available. 

If you would like people to access your services using DNS names, then NS records are absolutely essential. If a DNS query is conducted without an NS record, it becomes impossible to locate the authoritative DNS server and therefore to determine the IP address needed to communicate over a network. 

There are many network users who are unaware of what exactly an NS record is. Suppose you’re one of those and want to learn about it. You need not worry about it. In this article, we will discuss the NS record.

What is a Name Server?

Nameservers are servers that store information about domain names. On the Internet, every domain has at least one nameserver, but many have more than one. The purpose of a nameserver is to translate domain names into IP addresses and vice versa.

In other words, we can say that domain names are translated into IP addresses by name servers, which connect information that is easy for humans to understand with information that is easy for computers to understand. 

What is an NS Record?

NS (nameserver) records specify the authoritative name servers for a domain. In order to resolve queries to hostnames and determine which IP addresses should be used to access a given server, authoritative name servers are used.

These records contain information about domain names, including their names, IP addresses, and Time To Live (TTL). A domain name can be updated through an NS record, for example, if the domain name changes.

Name servers or DNS servers are responsible for storing all of the DNS zone files and records for the domain. There are several types of DNS records found within the zone files, including the A record, AAAA record, CNAME record, SOA (start of authority) record, PTR (pointer) record, and NS (nameserver) record.

DNS servers are provided by a variety of vendors, including Microsoft, ISC, public cloud services, and external services managed domains. Generally, each domain will have multiple DNS servers for redundancy or load balancing.

For instance, if your domain name is “example.com”, one of your DNS records might look like this:

Ns1.example.com

Ns2.example.com

Note: If your DNS zone contains an NS record that points to a name server that is down, then your domain has no point of contact. The reason for this is that they map an address to its name server. In addition, it informs other domain controllers where to send zone transfers and zone updates for your domain.

Moreover, if you want to fetch the details of the server your domain’s information is stored on, there are many online NS lookup tools available. You simply need to enter the domain name of your site. The tool will automatically generate the information related to your domain.

Importance of NS Records

The NS record (or nameserver record) in DNS contains the name of the authoritative name server for a domain. With an NS lookup (iplocation.io/ns-lookup), a user can determine the IP address of their intended destination when requesting a domain address.

Without an NS record, DNS queries cannot be performed because there is no way to determine the IP address required to communicate on the Internet without knowing where the authoritative DNS server is located.

Several name servers can be configured for your domain to provide redundancy and load balancing. These name servers are known as primary and secondary name servers. Whenever a primary server is unavailable, a secondary server can step in to handle requests. 

We recommend that the primary and secondary NS records be configured on separate segments of the network to achieve DNS service redundancy. An NS record in DNS points to the nameserver that hosts the DNS files and records for a domain. 

For example, let us say that you want to visit [example.com]. First, your computer will query a DNS server (typically provided by your Internet service provider) for the IP address of that domain. Afterward, the DNS server will return the IP address of example.com’s nameservers, which manage all domain records. 

All records associated with example.com are kept by the name servers, including A records (IP addresses), MX records (mail servers), NS records (name servers), TXT records (textual data), and CNAME records (aliases).

Conclusion

In order for people to access your services using DNS names, you must have NS records.  In the event that a user already has the destination IP address, then an NS record would not be required.

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