Nameserver

A nameserver, sometimes written name server, is a server that holds the specific instructions for where a domain’s website and email actually live. Changing a domain’s nameserver settings is how control over those instructions moves from one host or DNS provider to another.

Why a nameserver is different from who registered the domain

A domain name’s registration (who it is licensed to, and through which registrar) is a separate question from which name servers it currently points at. The registrar is where the domain is administered and renewed. The nameservers determine where the domain’s actual traffic — website visits, email — is directed. A domain name can stay registered with the same registrar indefinitely while its name servers are changed to point at an entirely different host.

How DNS resolution actually works: recursive resolvers, name servers and DNS records in a zone

Nameservers are part of the domain name system (DNS), and the domain name system splits the work of answering “where does this domain live” between two different kinds of servers. A recursive resolver — often run by an internet provider or a public DNS service — is what a device first asks. It does not itself hold the answer. It queries onward until it reaches the specific authoritative name servers for that domain’s DNS zone, which is the set of DNS records covering that domain name. The authoritative name server is the one that actually holds the DNS records — such as which server hosts the website and which server receives the email. Handing responsibility for a zone to a specific set of authoritative name servers is what’s technically called delegation.

Where nameservers show up practically

Moving a website to a new host, or moving to a DNS management service separate from either the registrar or the host, generally means updating the domain’s nameserver settings to point at wherever DNS is now managed. This is a distinct, specific step from anything involving the website’s actual files. Getting it wrong — or leaving it pointed at an old, no-longer-used provider — is a common cause of a domain appearing to “not work” despite the website itself being correctly built and hosted.

What to check about your own domain’s nameserver settings

Who currently controls the nameserver settings for a business’s domain, and whether that control sits with the business itself or depends on a specific supplier’s continued cooperation, is worth confirming directly rather than assumed.

What to do next

For where domain and hosting configuration work of this kind sits in a project, web development services covers where it is typically scoped.