Nameservers: where your DNS actually lives
NS records, delegation, and how to move DNS between a registrar and HostingSwift.
Your domain's nameservers are the servers that hold the authoritative copy of your DNS records. Everything else is a cache.
How delegation works
At the registrar you set NS records for your domain:
example.com. NS ns1.hostingswift.example.
example.com. NS ns2.hostingswift.example.That tells the internet: "for anything about example.com, ask these servers." The registrar's own DNS panel then stops mattering — the delegated nameservers are authoritative.
Two places your records can live
At your registrar (registrar DNS). Simple; fine if you only need a few records and never move hosts.
At a DNS host we run for you (HostingSwift DNS). Gives you a single place to manage records for all your services, plus our managed features.
You edit records where the zone is hosted, not at the registrar — unless the registrar is the host.
Moving DNS to HostingSwift
Add the domain in /panel/domains as a DNS zone.
We show you the nameservers to use (usually
ns1andns2at dnsdigi).Recreate every record first — A, AAAA, MX, TXT (including SPF/DKIM/DMARC), CNAME, SRV. Missing an MX record breaks email the moment the delegation switches.
Lower TTLs where you can.
Change the NS records at your registrar.
Wait for the delegation to take effect (up to the TLD's TTL, often a few hours).
Verify with
dig NS example.com @1.1.1.1anddig example.com @ns1.yourzone.
Moving DNS away
Reverse the process: create the zone (with all records) at the new provider, then change the NS records at the registrar. Do not delete the old zone until the new one demonstrably answers everything.
The classic disaster
Changing nameservers without first recreating the mail records. Email silently stops — that is why the "recreate everything first" step is in bold.
Checking delegation
dig NS example.com +short # what the world thinks your nameservers are
dig SOA example.com @ns1.yourzone # does your server consider itself authoritative?If the NS answer is still your old provider, the registrar change has not propagated yet — wait for the TLD TTL.
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