The NS, or Name Server records of a domain name, show which servers deal with the Domain Name System (DNS) records for it. Setting the name servers of a particular hosting provider for your domain is the most convenient way to forward it to their system and all its sub-records are going to be taken care of on their end. This includes A (the IP address of the server/website), MX (mail server), TXT (free text), SRV (services), CNAME (forwarding), and so on, if you need to change any of these records, you are going to be able to do it via their system. Put simply, the NS records of a domain name point out the DNS servers which are authoritative for it, so when you attempt to open a web address, the DNS servers are contacted to get the DNS records of the Internet domain you are attempting to reach. This way the site you'll see will be retrieved from the proper location. The name servers typically have a prefix “ns” or “dns” and each domain address has at least two NS records. There is no functional difference between the two prefixes, so what type a website hosting provider is going to use depends entirely on their preference.