What Is A Nameserver For A Domain

Why You Should Know Your Sites Name Servers

You dont need to know your websites name servers, but it could be useful in the future. If you register a domain and purchase hosting from the same company, you can safely ignore your name servers without too many issues. If you switch, or if you register apart from your hosting, youll need to have your name servers handy.

How Long Does It Take For Nameservers To Update

Anytime you change DNS records, it takes time for the update to take effect across the internet. This is called DNS propagation, and it can take up to 48 hours.

Changes can be seen soon after you update, but it could still be updating in other regions. So allow up to 48 hours for your nameservers to propagate fully.

You can check the status of your update on tools like DNSchecker.org.

Nameservers are an integral part of the domain name system. Without them, youd have to memorize an IP address for every website you visit.

Knowing what a nameserver is helps you better navigate the internet, but it can also help you manage your website.

Whether you need to point your domain name toward your web hosts nameservers or you want to set up a private server, nameservers help you direct traffic to your website.

You can easily find and change your nameservers with Bluehosts DNS manager or on whatever registrar youre using. If you do decide to set up a custom server in Bluehost, use a nameserver checker to do a DNS lookup and make sure theyre pointed to the right place.

Are you looking for a reliable web host? Get started with Bluehosts hosting packages today.

Machielle Thomas|Content Manager

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Domain Management: How To Update Nameservers

Domain Name System is the system that translates a domain name into an IP address. DNS forms the foundation for the Internet. DNS records are used to map each web service to the correct server. Each domain name has a collection of DNS records called a zone file. A Nameserver is a computer where DNS Records are stored. Domains will utilize the DNS records of the name server that they’re pointing to. A more in-depth look at DNS Records.To learn how to update your Nameservers, please follow the steps below and click image to enlarge:

Please note that once you made the name server changes at the registrar, there will be 24-48 hours of DNS propagation time during which your website and email may not be available.

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The Domain Name System

So how does your computer find a computer at google just from google.com?

You need a phone book.

When your computer is trying to find a computer at google.com it looks up the correct IP Address using the Domain Name System .

Its these phone book entries that SquareSpace needs you to configure. You need to tell everyone who looks up the phone book that yourdomain.com should point to a computer at SquareSpace.

This phone book has some nice features that are suitable for a global internet. Ill try to get to those. But ultimately its a list of domain names and the relevant IP addresses of computers so that other computers can look that information up.

We call these phone books a Name Server or just nameservers.

How To Find Your Nameserver In Bluehost And On The Web

Log in to your Bluehost account and go to the Manage button on your sidebar. In that menu, click DNS and then go to the Name Servers section.

There, if you set up your WordPress website with Bluehost, youll see Bluehosts nameservers.

• ns1.bluehost.com
• ns2.bluehost.com

There are usually at least two nameservers for backup and redundancy purposes, and it also ensures customers get where they need to go if one server fails.

You can also modify your DNS records in the DNS Manager.

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The Different Types Of Dns Server

Once a DNS query is entered, it passes through a few different servers before resolution, without any end user interaction.

This is a server designed specifically to receive queries from client machines. It tracks down the DNS record and makes additional requests to meet the DNS queries from the client. The number of requests can be decreased with DNS caching, when the requested resources are returned to the recursor early on in the lookup process.

This server does the job of translating the human-friendly host names into computer-friendly IP addresses. The root server accepts the recursors query and sends it to the TLD nameservers in the next stage, depending on the domain name seen in the query.

The TLD nameservers are responsible for maintaining the information about the domain names. For example, they could contain information about websites ending in .com or .org or country level domains like www.example.com.uk, www.example.com.us and others. The TLD nameserver will take the query from the root server and point it to the authoritative DNS nameserver associated with the querys particular domain.

What Is A Dns Ns Record

NS stands for nameserver, and the nameserver record indicates which DNS server is authoritative for that domain . Basically, NS records tell the Internet where to go to find out a domains IP address. A domain often has multiple NS records which can indicate primary and backup nameservers for that domain. Without properly configured NS records, users will be unable to load a website or application.

Here is an example of an NS record:

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How Does Domain Name For Servers Work

Do you ever go in-depth and analyze the site? Yes! Then you might know that every site has two name servers ns1 and ns2 to which a domain is pointed. They are presented with the hosting package you buy from the web host along with the hosting account.

ns1 = primary server

ns2 = backup server

Similar to the process of devices like a phone in which the phone is connected to a network. Just like this, your computer is also connected with a wireless network connection. So, when you want to reach any site, you have to first enter its domain name in your web browser.

For example, if you type any URL in your system browser, your system goes to the domain registrars and requests the name servers for your searched domain name. Then, the name server requests the IP address for your domain servers name and finally gets the desired site.

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Domains And Ip Addresses

If you type a domain like google.com in your web browser and hit enter Googles web page appears.

Your computer has reached out and asked a computer at Google for the website. Google sends back the website and your browser displays it.

The crucial thing to know here is that the internet doesnt actually use the domain google.com to talk to the computer! The internet uses numbers to identify every computer or device on the internet. Ill explain how your computer turns google.com in to a number later on.

You have seen examples of a number used to identify a computer in the SquareSpace settings above – 198.185.159.145.

We call these numbers IP Addresses. IP stands forinternet protocol but that doesnt matter too much here. Just remember the computers on the internet actually use numbers to identify each other, not the domain.

Your phone has its own unique IP address, your computer has an IP address. Your telly probably has an IP address these days. If you have a smart fridge it also has an IP address. Every device or computer on the internet needs an IP address number to work.

In fact a serious issue right now is that were running out of numbers for all the things as the internet keeps growing! Blocks of those numbers are like gold to companies like Google or Amazon.

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How Does A Web Page Appear In A Browser

Everything thats connected to the Internet websites, computers, laptops and other devices, have an IP address made up of numbers. But IP address is a string of numbers and is difficult to remember, so to make them easier for humans, domain names are used instead, to reach websites as they are easy to recognize and remember. So, it is the domain name that you enter into a web browser in order to reach a specific website and this is how a web page appears.

All the information of domain names including registration information, emails, addresses of web host is stored and managed by domain name system. Domain name servers control different aspects of domain name with the help of different elements- nameservers, A zone file, Records, CNAME and other elements.

All elements are important but in this post, we will discuss about domain name servers-the GPS system of the computer in online world.

Where Are Your Domain’s Nameservers Located

When you register your domain through a domain registrar, your domain is usually first pointed to your domain registrar’s nameservers.

Your domain registrar is the place where you can edit your domain’s nameservers. If you want to use these nameservers, edit your DNS records to point your domain name towards your hosting provider.

But experts suggest that you should use the nameservers provided by your web hosting. However, it depends upon your requirements and needs.

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How To Look Up Your Sites Name Servers

There are several name server lookup tools online. For this example, were using mxtoolbox.com because it allows you to look up name servers and specific DNS records, along with an assortment of other useful website information.

On the website, type in the domain you want to look up and change the tool to the DNS check mode. Run the search, and youll get the domains for each name server and their IP addresses in a few seconds.

You can also run a test locally. On Windows, open PowerShell, type in nslookup, and press Enter. Follow that with set q=ns, press Enter again, then enter the domain you want to check. Hit Enter one last time, and youll see the name servers for the domain you entered.

For Mac and Linux, open the Terminal and enter dig domainname.com. The dig command will provide the name servers along with a slew of other information.

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For example, heres what it looks like to change the nameservers at a domain registered through .

You can see that the domain is originally configured to use the Google Domains nameservers:

But if you check the Use custom name servers box, you can change your domains nameservers to use your hosts nameservers instead :

Speaking of other providers, you can also use third-party nameservers. The most popular example here is Cloudflare. If you use the Cloudflare service, youll point your domains nameservers to Cloudflare, rather than your web host or your domain registrar.

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What Is A Domain Name Server

A DNS is a computer server that contains a database of many IP addresses and their associated domain names. It serves to translate a requested domain name into an IP address, so that the computer knows which IP address to connect to for the requested contents. The Internet is a network of connected computers, and they communicate with each other through IP addresses. A DNS plays an important role in helping us to conveniently use the Internet and it is one of the most essential foundations of the Internet as we know it today.

It is much easier for us to remember a domain name, webnic.cc, rather than a string of numbers, 104.20.73.209 to WebNICs website. Both the domain name and the DNS are extremely important and they work together to make this possible. Read our blog here if you are unsure what is a domain name.

A great example is to see a DNS as a phone book, which matches a name to a telephone number. You can search for the name you want and find the corresponding phone number. It is also a similar concept to your smartphones contact list, which will match a contact name to a phone number. Remembering domain names is definitely easier for us than to remember a string of numbers. DNS helps us to do this by match domain names to IP addresses, and simplifies our web surfing experience significantly.

Disadvantages Of Domain Name Server

Some disadvantages of DNS are:-

Can be hacked:

Stops internet:

Suppose DNS servers get a virus attack then the websites associated with the DNS server also not loads. This is a very dangerous issue because if thousands of websites stop working then the business of the website owners is damaged.

Controlled by one organization:

All the DNS servers are controlled by ICANN. ICANN is a non-profit organization. The organization belongs to one country. If any rules and regulations of the country change then ICANN responsibility may also change.

Incorrect names:

There exist some hackers who own similar domain names to popular websites. They purchase similar domain names and fool the people and get benefits from them. If any user types by mistake any similar domain of a popular website then the user goes to the wrong website which looks the same as the original website. Then that website gets important information from you e.g. get login details from you.

Error handling:

It is difficult to troubleshoot the DNS server. If any error occurs in the DNS server then fixing it is a difficult process. This is because all the DNS servers are connected.

Master-slave relation:

The DNS servers work in a master-slave manner. One DNS server acts as a master to other DNS servers. Main DNS servers guide other DNS servers. If the master server fails then other DNS servers also become unresponsive. This is because they cannot forward their response to the master server.

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Summary Of The Dns Process