Nameserver assignments

When creating an NS1 zone, you select the DNS network(s) to which you want to publish it. Once you save the zone, the NS1 Connect platform assigns a group, or "pool," of authoritative nameservers that will serve the zone data to requesting clients. It's important to identify the specific nameservers that have been assigned to your zone so you can update the nameserver delegation, or NS record, at the domain registrar (for primary zones), the primary DNS provider (for secondary zones), or the parent zone (for subdelegations).

The NS1 nameservers to which a zone is assigned depend on the networks on which it is published. The shared NS1 Managed DNS network (network 0) uses several nameserver pools or groups of nameservers, which are randomly assigned to published zones. Nameservers in this network include "dns[1-4].p[01-10].nsone.net". Upon publishing a zone to the Managed DNS network, an NS record is automatically generated containing a list of its assigned nameservers.

For example, if your zone is assigned to pool 6 (as in, p06), then the NS record would contain the following answers — one for each nameserver in the pool:

By default, for zones published to the Managed DNS network, the NS1 Connect platform uses nameserver variability which refers to the randomization of nameserver assignments for each of your zones. This means that each of your zones may have different assigned nameservers. In some cases, you may want the same set NS1 nameserver pool to be assigned to all of your zones. This can help simplify nameserver delegation for multiple domains at the registrar. If you would prefer to "pin" your nameserver assignments to ensure all zones are assigned to the same pool, you can contact the customer support team to request nameserver pinning. The team will review your account to determine the best nameserver pool to assign to your zones and, upon request, can help update the NS records for your zones to match the new nameservers.

Note: While not recommended unless instructed by a customer support representative, you can override the assigned nameservers by editing the NS record to point to a different NS1 nameserver pool (pools 01-10) in the Managed DNS network. This is possible because all Managed DNS nameservers (excluding those for dedicated namespaces) will answer any NS1 zone published to the shared Managed DNS network.

Zones published to other NS1 networks, such as a dedicated namespace within the Managed network, an NS1 Dedicated DNS network, or Managed DNS for China network, are assigned different nameservers specific to those networks.

Once you locate the assigned nameservers, you must update the nameserver delegation for the domain to initiate traffic flow through NS1 nameservers. If you do not do this, the DNS resolver will not be able to locate the NS1 nameservers.

Refer to FAQs: Nameserver variability and pinning for frequently asked questions.