Owen

An authoritative name server is a server that is specifically designated by the Domain Name System (DNS) to provide information about the names of servers and other resources in a domain. The authoritative name server is usually the first server that is contacted when a user queries for a domain name or host name.

Authoritative name servers are important for two reasons. First, they can provide a more accurate answer to a DNS query than any other server in the domain.

Second, they can be used to prevent name resolution problems. If there is a problem with a name server, an authoritative name server can be used to resolve the name to its corresponding IP address.

Authoritative name servers are usually operated by the sponsoring organization for the domain. In some cases, a DNS server may act as an authoritative name server for a domain if the sponsoring organization does not have a name server available.