DNS involves two fundamentally different types of servers:
Although both answer DNS queries, they perform very different roles.
A recursive resolver is the DNS server that users query directly.
Examples include:
Its responsibilities are:
User │ ▼ Recursive Resolver
An authoritative server stores the official DNS records for a domain.
Example:
example.com
│
▼
ns1.example.com
It does not perform recursive lookups.
Instead, it simply answers questions about domains for which it is authoritative.
Typical records include:
Suppose a user requests:
www.example.com
The lookup proceeds as follows:
Browser │ ▼ Recursive Resolver │ ▼ Root Server │ ▼ TLD Server │ ▼ Authoritative Server │ ▼ Answer
The browser communicates only with the recursive resolver.
| Recursive Resolver | Authoritative Server |
|---|---|
| Receives queries from users | Stores official DNS records |
| Performs recursive lookups | Never performs recursion |
| Uses cache | Does not cache other domains |
| Returns cached answers | Returns authoritative answers |
| Usually operated by ISPs or public DNS providers | Usually operated by DNS hosting providers |
Recursive resolvers may return different answers because:
Authoritative servers, however, always return the current published records.
Yes.
For example:
dig @ns1.example.com example.com A
This bypasses recursive resolvers and asks the authoritative server directly.
This is useful for verifying that recent DNS changes have been published.
Telenegar DNS Check queries multiple recursive DNS providers around the world.
This allows you to:
Telenegar also supports querying authoritative DNS servers directly, allowing you to compare published records with what recursive resolvers currently return.
dns resolver authoritative recursion nameserver