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Q & A DNS Records · August 21, 2026

What is the difference between SOA MNAME and NS records?

MNAME names the primary master nameserver for zone transfers — it’s used internally between nameservers. NS records list all authoritative nameservers that resolvers should query. The MNAME value does not have to appear in the NS record set.

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What Is an SOA Record? The DNS Zone's Control File Explained
The SOA record is DNS's control file — it governs zone transfers, cache TTLs, and negative response lifetimes. Every misconfiguration here ripples across every resolver on the internet.
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