web dev//DNS//nameserver

A nameserver is the server that answers the DNS questions about one domain. Every domain declares which nameservers speak for it (for instance `ns1.cloudflare.com` and `ns2.cloudflare.com`), and that declaration, the **delegation** (its **NS** records), is written in the panel of the registrar, not in the DNS provider's dashboard and not in the hosting.

A nameserver is the server that answers the DNS questions about one domain. Every domain declares which nameservers speak for it (for instance ns1.cloudflare.com and ns2.cloudflare.com), and that declaration, the delegation (its NS records), is written in the panel of the registrar, not in the DNS provider's dashboard and not in the hosting.

Changing the nameservers is the operation most often mistaken for something bigger. It does not transfer the domain, which stays rented at the same registrar. It does not transfer the hosting, which does not even notice. The only thing that changes is who answers the DNS questions, and therefore which zone is the one the world reads.

Because the new nameservers start answering while the old ones are still being asked, the records have to exist on the new side before the change is made; the reason is in propagation.