Glue Records are special entries in the registry of domain zones that hold the IP addresses of a domain's NS servers. They are required when the domain's NS servers live in the same zone as the domain itself.

The Problem Without Glue Records

Imagine the domain example.com with the NS servers ns1.example.com and ns2.example.com.

If someone asks for the IP of example.com:

The DNS resolver asks: "Which NS serves example.com?"
The answer: "ns1.example.com and ns2.example.com"
But to find ns1.example.com you need to know the IP of example.com...
A circular dependency! Resolution is impossible.

The Solution: Glue Records

Glue Records are stored in the parent zone (.com, .net, .ua) and provide a direct mapping of the NS hostname to its IP:

ns1.example.com.  IN  A  192.168.1.1
ns2.example.com.  IN  A  192.168.1.2

Now the resolver gets the IP of ns1.example.com straight from the registry, with no recursion.

When Glue Records Are Needed

You are setting up your own NS servers (ns1.yourdomain.com)
You are a hosting provider and supply NS servers to your clients
You are building your own DNS infrastructure

💡 For most users: Glue Records are configured by the hosting provider only. If you use ns1.zevshost.net, the Glue Records are already set up for you. You need this only when you create your OWN NS servers.

How to Set Up Glue Records

Glue Records are configured at the domain registrar, not at the hosting provider:

Log in to the registrar control panel
Find the "Child Name Servers" or "Glue Records" section
Add a record: hostname ns1, IP your.IP.address
Repeat for ns2

Checking Glue Records

dig NS example.com +additional

The ADDITIONAL section shows the A records for the NS servers — those are the Glue Records.

Common Glue Record Errors

Message or symptom	Cause	Fix
The registrar says "Host already exists with different IP address"	A glue record for this NS name already exists with a different IP — a second one with the same name cannot be created	Update the existing glue record instead of creating a new one with the same hostname
The domain does not resolve at all after the server's IP changes	The glue records were updated at one registrar, but the domain uses NS names registered under a different TLD where the glue is not synchronized	Update the glue records separately in every parent zone where the child NS names are registered
"Nameserver does not have a valid glue record" when trying to delegate a subdomain to your own NS	The child NS name has not yet been created as a host record at the parent domain's registrar	Create the host record (Child Name Server) with the correct name and IP before attempting delegation
dig NS +additional shows no A record next to the NS	Glue records are not configured at all, or are configured in the wrong zone — one that does not actually serve the delegation	Check the glue directly in the parent domain's TLD registry, not in the DNS provider's panel

Checking Glue Records Across Different TLDs

# A universal check via the additional section
dig NS example.com +additional

# Checking directly against the registry's whois (for some TLDs)
whois -h whois.verisign-grs.com example.com

The whois response format for glue records differs between registries: some show them as separate "Name Server: ns1.example.com" lines with the IP next to them, others show only the name with no IP, in which case dig +additional is the only reliable check.

Syncing Glue Records After a Server IP Change

# After changing the IP of the server running your own NS,
# update the glue record at the registrar, NOT just the A record in the zone
# Confirm the update actually reached the TLD registry:
dig ns1.example.com A +trace

A common mistake: the administrator changes the ns1.example.com A record in the zone itself, but forgets that the glue record in the TLD registry is a separate, independently stored copy of the same name-to-IP mapping. Until the glue is updated at the registrar, some resolvers around the world will keep getting the old IP from the registry, even though the zone itself serves the new one.

When Glue Records Are Not Needed

The NS servers live in another domain or zone with no circular dependency on the delegated domain (for example, ns1.zevshost.net for the domain example.com)
A third-party DNS provider is used (Cloudflare, Google Cloud DNS) with its own NS servers outside your domain
The domain has not yet been delegated to its own NS names — when registering through a hosting provider, the provider itself configures the glue
A temporary DNS migration is planned without building a permanent NS infrastructure of your own

Glue records are only one step in delegation. The full process of changing NS servers is described in how to change domain NS servers.

In practice, most ZevsHost clients never deal with glue records directly — this setup is hidden behind the provider's automatic NS server configuration and only becomes visible once a business grows into needing its own DNS infrastructure.