Authoritative DNS is the system that takes an address, like google.com, and provides an answer about the resources in that zone. The typical transaction looks something like this: User types an address into a web browser, or an application calls out to a given name of a resource on the Internet.

What does authoritative DNS server do?

Authoritative DNS nameservers are responsible for providing answers to recursive DNS nameservers about where specific websites can be found. These answers contain important information for each domain, like IP addresses.

How do I get an authoritative DNS answer?

Common tools like dig , nslookup , whois and host can be used to determine the authoritative DNS servers for a zone or domain. Use the dig command to query NS records. NS records indicate which name servers are authoritative for the zone or domain.