NS Lookup

Query Nameserver (NS) DNS records for any domain — see authoritative name servers and SOA data

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Frequently Asked Questions

An NS (Nameserver) record specifies which DNS servers are authoritative for a domain — meaning they hold the official DNS records (A, MX, TXT, etc.) for that domain. When a resolver wants to look up any record for example.com, it first queries the NS records to find out which server to ask.

The SOA (Start of Authority) record contains administrative information about the DNS zone: the primary nameserver, the admin email address, the serial number (used for zone transfers), and timing values like refresh, retry, and expire intervals. The serial number increments every time DNS records are updated.

Nameservers are set at your domain registrar (e.g. GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains). Log in to your registrar's control panel, find the domain, and update the nameserver fields to the new values provided by your DNS hosting provider (e.g. Cloudflare: anita.ns.cloudflare.com). Changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate globally.

The nameserver hostname reveals the provider: ns.cloudflare.com = Cloudflare, awsdns = Amazon Route 53, domaincontrol.com = GoDaddy, dnsimple.com = DNSimple, googledomains.com or ns-cloud = Google Cloud DNS, name.com = Name.com. You can also cross-check against their published nameserver lists.

About NS Lookup

What This Tool Does

This tool performs a real-time DNS NS record query for any domain and returns all authoritative nameservers along with their IP addresses. It also includes the SOA record with zone serial number and admin contact details.

Common Use Cases
  • Verify nameserver changes have propagated
  • Identify the DNS hosting provider
  • Check NS records after domain transfer
  • Troubleshoot DNS resolution issues
  • Audit zone serial number and SOA settings