Locating assigned nameservers

When you publish a zone to a DNS network in IBM® NS1 Connect®, the zone is assigned to a group of authoritative nameservers that store the zone data, including its DNS records. These nameservers can serve the requested zone data when the domain is queried. The nameservers assigned to a zone depend on the network(s) to which they are published. Refer to Nameserver assignments for details.

During the DNS lookup process, the resolver must be able to locate the authoritative nameservers associated with the requested domain. As such, when you are ready to initiate traffic flow through NS1, you must update the delegation for the domain or subdomain to point to the NS1 nameservers. Typically, this is done at the domain registrar; however, if NS1 is your secondary DNS provider for this domain or you are configuring a subdelegation, you must update the delegation within the primary or parent zone.

There are three ways to locate the nameservers associated with a zone's FQDN or one of its subdomains:

  • The nameserver (NS) record corresponding to the zone FQDN or one of the subdomains contains all nameservers, including those assigned or added manually.
  • The Nameservers tab within the zone details contains the nameservers assigned to the zone. Note that this may not reflect what is in the zone's NS record.
  • Using the NS1 API, you can use a GET request to view the nameservers associated with a zone.

Option A - View the nameserver (NS) record details

The nameservers assigned to a zone, as well as any nameservers added manually, are listed as answers in a zone's NS record.

  1. Click Zones.
  2. Click the zone name to view details, and scroll down to view the list of records.
  3. Click the name of the NS record corresponding to the desired domain or subdomain to view details.

Each answer within the NS record represents a nameserver assigned to this zone, as well as any that were added or adjusted manually.

Warning: Editing or removing the NS1 nameservers in the NS record does not necessarily update the nameserver assignment. We strongly advise against modifying an NS record unless instructed to do so.

Option B - View assigned nameservers in the Nameservers tab

The Nameservers tab within the zone details lists the NS1 nameservers assigned to the zone. Note that this page only lists the assigned NS1 nameservers and does not necessarily reflect all answers in the NS record.

  1. Click Zones.
  2. Click the zone name to drill down into its details.
  3. Click the Nameservers tab to view a list of assigned nameservers.

Option C - Use the API to view zone details

Use the GET request below to view all zone details, including the assigned nameservers and NS record details. Replace <zoneName> in the URL path with the appropriate zone name (typically, this is the FQDN).

curl -X GET -H "X-NSONE-Key: $NSONE_API_KEY" https://api.nsone.net/v1/zones/<zoneName>

The response includes the section header, dns_servers, which lists the NS1 nameservers assigned to this zone. The response also includes the records header which contains the NS record details with each nameserver listed under "short_answers". Note that the NS record contains both the assigned NS1 nameservers as well as any that were added or modified by you or another account user.

{
  "id": "520422af9f782d37dffb588b",
  "hostmaster": "hostmaster@nsone.net",
  "ttl": 3600,
  "nx_ttl": 3600,
  "retry": 7200,
  "zone": "example.com",
  "refresh": 43200,
  "expiry": 1209600,
  "dns_servers": [
    "dns1.p03.nsone.net",
    "dns2.p03.nsone.net",
    "dns3.p03.nsone.net",
    "dns4.p03.nsone.net"
  ],
...
  "records": [
    {
      "id": "520422af9f782d37dffb5890",
      "type": "NS",
      "tier": 1,
      "ttl": 3600,
      "short_answers": [
        "dns1.p03.nsone.net",
        "dns2.p03.nsone.net",
        "dns3.p03.nsone.net",
        "dns4.p03.nsone.net"
      ],
      "domain": "example.com"
    },
...