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NS Records

An NS record names the authoritative name servers for a zone. ZCP creates the NS record set for your domain automatically (pointing at ns1.zsoftly.ca and ns2.zsoftly.ca). Add your own NS records to delegate a subdomain to a different DNS provider.

FieldExampleNotes
NamesubzoneThe subdomain to delegate.
TypeNS
Contentns1.other-dns.com.A name server for the subdomain. End with a trailing dot.
TTL3600Seconds.

To hand subzone.example.com to another provider, add an NS record for subzone for every provider name server.

Console (zone-file view):

subzone NS ns1.other-dns.com. 3600
subzone NS ns2.other-dns.com. 3600

CLI:

zcp dns record-create --domain examplecom --name subzone --type NS --content ns1.other-dns.com.
zcp dns record-create --domain examplecom --name subzone --type NS --content ns2.other-dns.com.

After this change, ZCP returns a referral to the delegated provider for subzone.example.com. The delegated provider must host the subzone.example.com zone.

dig NS subzone.example.com +short
# ns1.other-dns.com.
# ns2.other-dns.com.

The reverse also works. To host a subdomain on ZCP while the parent domain stays at another provider, create the subdomain as a ZCP domain (for example, dev.example.com). At the parent provider, add NS records for dev pointing at ns1.zsoftly.ca and ns2.zsoftly.ca. See Domains.

  • Delegate to at least two name servers for redundancy.
  • The child provider must host the zone. Delegation only forwards queries. The records live at the provider you delegate to.
  • Do not delete the apex NS set. ZCP manages your domain’s own ns1/ns2.zsoftly.ca records.

See also: Domains, Worked examples, Record types