June 22, 2020
3min Read
Linas L.
In this article, you’ll learn how to check the nameservers of your domain and whether they’re correctly pointing to your hosting service. You can use either WHOIS lookup tools or your system console to check whether or not your domain’s nameservers are properly applied and pointing to the right server.
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There are plenty of reasons why you would want to check your domain nameservers. However, the most common scenario is when you’re switching to a new hosting provider.
Your hosting service provides nameservers. For this reason, you need to update the nameservers every time you transfer your domain.
Domain migration can risk your website accessibility if you have incorrect nameservers’ details.
Here’s how to check your domain nameservers using WHOIS lookup tools.
First of all, access your hosting control panel to look for the nameservers’ details. In this tutorial, we’ll be using hPanel.
There are plenty of WHOIS lookup tools available online to help you find your domain nameservers. In this tutorial, we’ll be using WHOis.net as an example.
However, you cannot utilize WHOis.net and other universal lookup tools to check the less common extensions like .xyz. Here is an alternative procedure:
Next, compare the nameservers you’ve got from your hosting provider and WHOIS lookup tool. If they’re showing the same details, then your domain is set up correctly to your hosting account. If not, contact your hosting company to get further help.
Here we’re going to show you how to use command prompts to check nameservers on Windows, macOS, and Linux systems.
To do it on Windows, here’s how:
nslookup -type=ns yourdomainname.com
To check your name servers with Linux, follow these steps:
dig ns yourdomainname.com
Using macOS, here’s what you need to do:
dig ns yourdomainname.com
There are some common issues when you need to check nameservers. Here are a few examples:
If the results show that your domain is available and not registered anywhere yet, be sure that you’ve correctly entered your site’s URL. Try to copy it from your domain registrar directly.
Other than that, it’s also possible that the WHOIS lookup tool you use shows you the outdated information. That’s common if you’ve entered a newly registered domain. If this is the case, try using another WHOIS lookup tool.
Generally, this issue occurs when checking for less common extensions. Make sure that the WHOIS lookup tool you use supports your domain extension.
In this tutorial, you’ve learned how you can easily check nameservers using both your system console or online WHOIS lookup tools. Your domain nameservers are working correctly if the results match with the details in your hosting control panel.
If you have any further questions, let us know in the comments section below.
September 08 2018
Thank you for your help. Grts.
April 04 2020
Hi! Im having trouble understand what is the name server and why its listed multiple times, can you please explain that to me?
Emma Y.
Replied on April 07 2020
Hi Trinity, Check out this DNS tutorial to help you better understand nameservers :)