NS Record Lookup
Look up nameservers, SOA records, and DNSSEC status for any domain — entirely from your browser.
What are NS Records?
NS (Name Server) records identify which DNS servers are authoritative for a domain. These servers hold the definitive DNS records for the domain and respond to queries from resolvers around the world. Every domain must have at least two NS records for redundancy, as required by most registrars and the DNS specification.
When a recursive resolver needs to look up a record for example.com, it follows the delegation chain from the root servers to the TLD servers, and finally to the authoritative nameservers listed in the NS records. The nameservers then provide the requested record (A, MX, TXT, etc.).
SOA Record Explained
The SOA (Start of Authority) record contains administrative information about the DNS zone. It specifies the primary nameserver, the responsible person's email address (encoded with dots instead of @), and several timing parameters that control zone transfers and caching behavior.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Primary NS (MNAME) | The primary authoritative nameserver for the zone. |
| Admin Email (RNAME) | Email of the zone administrator (first dot = @). |
| Serial | Zone version number. Incremented on every change. Secondary servers use it to detect updates. |
| Refresh | How often (seconds) secondary servers check for zone updates. |
| Retry | Wait time (seconds) before retrying a failed refresh. |
| Expire | Maximum time (seconds) a secondary serves stale data if the primary is unreachable. |
| Minimum TTL | Default TTL for negative caching (NXDOMAIN responses). |
DNSSEC Overview
DNSSEC (DNS Security Extensions) adds cryptographic signatures to DNS records, allowing resolvers to verify that responses have not been tampered with in transit. When DNSSEC is enabled and validated, the resolver sets the AD (Authenticated Data) flag in its response. DNSSEC is a prerequisite for DANE/TLSA records, which bind TLS certificates to DNS for additional email transport security.
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