What Is an NS Record in DNS?

TL;DR
An NS record (Name Server) specifies the authoritative name servers for a domain.
These servers hold the official DNS records (A, MX, TXT, etc.) and answer queries for that domain.
NS records are set at your domain registrar and define who controls your DNS.
Always use at least two for redundancy.

Look up NS records

Enter a domain name to lookup NS records

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How NS Records Work

A resolver wants to look up www.example.com.
It queries the root servers → .com TLD servers.
TLD servers return the NS records for example.com.
The resolver then queries those name servers for the actual records.

NS records create DNS delegation: handing off responsibility from parent zone to child zone. The target name servers must have their own A/AAAA records (often called glue records if they're in the same zone).

Common Use Cases

Pointing to a DNS provider: Cloudflare, Route 53, Google Cloud DNS, etc.
Redundancy & reliability: multiple name servers in different locations/providers
Subdomain delegation: e.g., delegate sub.example.com to a different set of NS
Custom/self-hosted DNS: running your own BIND, PowerDNS, etc.
Anycast DNS: global, low-latency resolution via providers like Cloudflare

How to Lookup NS Records

dig example.com NS

nslookup -type=NS example.com

Record Format

NAME          TTL    CLASS  TYPE  VALUE
example.com.  3600   IN     NS    ns1.example.com.

VALUE: Hostname of an authoritative name server (FQDN with trailing dot)
Multiple records allowed (recommended: 2–4)
Target hostnames need A/AAAA records (glue if in-zone)

Valid Examples

Basic custom

example.com.      NS  ns1.example.com.
example.com.      NS  ns2.example.com.
ns1.example.com.  A   192.0.2.1
ns2.example.com.  A   198.51.100.1

Cloudflare

example.com.  NS  lara.ns.cloudflare.com.
example.com.  NS  pat.ns.cloudflare.com.

AWS Route 53

example.com.  NS  ns-1234.awsdns-12.com.
example.com.  NS  ns-5678.awsdns-56.net.
example.com.  NS  ns-9012.awsdns-90.org.
example.com.  NS  ns-3456.awsdns-34.co.uk.

NS vs Other Record Types

Feature	NS	A / AAAA	CNAME
Purpose	Defines authoritative servers	IP address mapping	Domain alias
Controls DNS zone	Yes	No	No
Multiple allowed	Yes (recommended)	Yes	No
Points to	Domain name	IP address	Domain name
Required at registrar	Yes	No	No

→ See also: A Record, SOA Record

Frequently Asked Questions

How many NS records should I have?

At least 2, preferably 3–4. More improves redundancy; too many (10+) can slightly slow queries.

Can NS records point outside my domain?

Yes, this is most common (e.g., Cloudflare, AWS). Targets just need valid public A/AAAA records.

What's the difference between NS and glue records?

NS records list the name servers. Glue records are A/AAAA records for those servers in the parent zone, which solves the circular dependency problem.

Do I need to match NS at registrar and zone?

Yes, they must match exactly, or queries may get inconsistent or no answers.

References

RFC 1035

Domain Names - Implementation and Specification

Related: A Record · SOA Record · DNS Basics