Nameservers are the servers that answer DNS queries for your domain; if they’re misconfigured, symptoms can range from total outage to confusing partial failures.
Common symptoms
- Site works for some visitors/networks but not others (often a sign of inconsistent or partially propagated nameserver records)
- Email suddenly stops arriving (MX records not resolving correctly)
- SSL certificate renewal starts failing (many renewal methods rely on DNS validation)
How to check
Query your domain’s nameservers directly (e.g. via dig NS yourdomain.com) and compare against what’s actually registered at your domain registrar — a mismatch between the two is the most common root cause.
FAQ
Can a nameserver issue affect email but not the website, or vice versa?
Yes — A/AAAA records (website) and MX records (email) are independent, so a partial misconfiguration can break one while leaving the other working, which often delays diagnosis.