How to find out where a domain's DNS is hosted

Introduction

In this article, we cover how to determine where the DNS for a domain is hosted. This will be the location where changes need to be made if they are needed.

Procedure

1. Dig the top-level domain at the root nameserver to find the top-level domain nameserver. For example.com you would use the following command:

   ~ dig +short SOA com
   a.gtld-servers.net. nstld.verisign-grs.com. 1597810091 1800 900 604800 86400

    

2. Dig the domain at the nameserver returned in the previous command; the nameservers used by the domain will be located in the authority section.

    

   For example.com you would use the following command:

   ~ dig NS example.com @a.gtld-servers.net.
   ...
   ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
   example.com. 172800 IN NS a.iana-servers.net.
   example.com. 172800 IN NS b.iana-servers.net.
   ...