Nameserver

01

Nameserver, explained

When you set nameservers at your registrar, the registrar sends them to the registry, which publishes them as NS records in the extension's zone. A resolver looking up the domain asks the registry's servers, is referred to your nameservers and gets its answer there. Registrars typically require at least two, for redundancy. If a nameserver sits inside the domain it serves, such as ns1 on the same name, the registry also stores its IP address as a glue record.

Changing nameservers moves all DNS control to a new provider at once: a parking company, a marketplace lander, a CDN or your host. The switch usually takes effect within hours, though cached answers can keep some visitors on the old servers for a day or two. Records do not move with the change, so anything you need, including MX records for email, must be recreated at the new provider first.

Nameservers are how an investor routes a portfolio in bulk: one change at the registrar can point hundreds of names at a parking service or a for-sale lander. On an inter-registrar transfer the nameserver setting carries over, so a name that relied on the old registrar's free DNS can stop resolving once that registrar deletes the zone. Set DNS at a provider you control before you transfer or sell.

A nameserver change is also what a hijacker makes first, because it redirects website and email in one step. Use two-factor login at your registrar, and on valuable names ask about registry lock, which blocks changes until they are verified manually. The common mistake is pointing a name with active email at a parking service and losing mail.

For-sale signals live in DNS too: RFC 10023, published in July 2026, defines a _for-sale TXT record that marks a domain as available for purchase. If your nameservers belong to a parking or lander service, check that it lets you add such records.

Go deeper How to Sell a Domain Name: A Seller's Guide