NS records can be configured by the owner of a domain name. They are used to store the location of the authoritative DNS servers for that domain name. That means that these name servers will be seen as the source of truth for the DNS records for that domain name. Whenever a recursive DNS server doesn't have DNS records in its cache, it will trace the authoritative DNS server with NS lookups, and query that server for the DNS records. Learn more about NS records.
NS records are configured in DNS. But how can you look up these NS records? That depends on the operating system you are using. Windows, Linux and Mac all have a different way of finding NS records. The sections below contain instructions for each operating system.
How to lookup NS records on Windows
To check the NS records for a certain domain name on Windows, follow these steps:
- Open a command prompt by navigating to Start → 'Type here to search' → 'cmd' → Open.
- Type
nslookup -q=ns example.comand hit [enter] to get the NS records forexample.com. - The NS records are listed below the Non-authoritative answer heading.
How to lookup NS records on Mac OS
To check the NS records for a certain domain name on a Mac, follow these steps:
- Open a terminal by entering [command] + [space] → 'terminal.app' → [enter].
- Type
dig example.com nsand hit [enter] to get the NS records forexample.com. - The NS records are listed below the ANSWER SECTION heading.
How to lookup NS records on Linux
To check the NS records for a certain domain name on Linux, follow these steps:
- Open a terminal by entering [Super] → 'terminal' → [enter].
- Type
dig example.com nsand hit [enter] to get the NS records forexample.com. - The NS records are listed below the ANSWER SECTION heading.
How to find NS records
To check the NS records of a domain, follow these steps:
- Open the NS lookup tool.
- Enter the domain name and hit [enter].
- The tool will query the NS records and shown them at the top of the page.
How to lookup other record types
There are other types of DNS records then just NS. The most commonly used DNS record types are A, AAAA, CNAME, NS, TXT, MX and SOA. If you'd like to look up all records of these record types, you can do so with nslookup. Click any of the record types below to find DNS records for that specific record type.
- A lookup — IPv4 address
- AAAA lookup — IPv6 address
- AFSDB lookup — AFS database location
- APL lookup — Address prefix list
- AXFR lookup — Authoritative zone transfer
- CAA lookup — Certification authority authorization
- CDNSKEY lookup — Child copy of a DNSKEY
- CDS lookup — Child copy of DS
- CERT lookup — Cryptographic certificate
- CNAME lookup — Canonical name
- CSYNC lookup — Child-to-parent synchronization
- DHCID lookup — DHCP identifier
- DLV lookup — DNSSEC lookaside validation
- DNAME lookup — Delegation name
- DNSKEY lookup — Cryptographic key for DNSSEC
- DS lookup — Delegation signer
- EUI48 lookup — MAC address (EUI-48)
- EUI64 lookup — Mac address (EUI-64)
- HINFO lookup — Host information
- HIP lookup — Host identification protocol
- HTTPS lookup — HTTPS binding
- IPSECKEY lookup — Cryptographic key for IPsec
- IXFR lookup — Incremental zone transfer
- KEY lookup — Cryptographic key for DNSSEC (obsoleted by DNSKEY)
- KX lookup — Key exchange
- LOC lookup — Geographical location
- MX lookup — Mail exchange
- NAPTR lookup — Naming authority pointer
- NSEC3 lookup — Next secure (version 3)
- NSEC3PARAM lookup — Parameter for NSEC3
- NSEC lookup — Next secure (obsoleted by NSEC3)
- NXT lookup — DNSSEC key (obsoleted by NSEC)
- OPENPGPKEY lookup — Public key for OpenPGP
- OPT lookup — EDNS option
- PTR lookup — Canonical name pointer
- RP lookup — Responsible person
- RRSIG lookup — Resource record signature for DNSSEC
- SIG lookup — Resource record signature for DNSSEC (obsoleted by RRSIG)
- SMIMEA lookup — S/MIME association
- SOA lookup — Start of authority
- SPF lookup — Sender Policy Framework
- SSHFP lookup — Public key fingerprint for SSH
- SVCB lookup — Service binding
- SRV lookup — Service locator
- TA lookup — Trust authority for DNSSEC
- TKEY lookup — Transaction key
- TLSA lookup — Certificate association for TLS
- TSIG lookup — Transaction signature
- TXT lookup — Human-readable text
- URI lookup — Uniform resource identifier
- ZONEMD lookup — Message digest for DNS zones
