Custom Nameservers & Glue Records: Full Setup Guide

If you resell hosting, run an agency, or just don't want "ns1.getwebup.in" showing up in a WHOIS lookup for your client's site, you've probably tried setting a nameserver like ns1.yourdomain.com. And you've probably hit the wall: the registrar either rejects it outright or accepts it and the domain quietly stops resolving a day later. That wall has a name - glue records - and almost nobody explains it before you hit it.

What a glue record actually is

Normally a nameserver is just a hostname that lives on someone else's domain - ns1.getwebup.in, ns1.cloudflare.com, whatever. The registry looks up that hostname's own DNS to find its IP, then asks it about your domain. That works fine because the nameserver's domain is different from the domain you're setting up.

The problem shows up the moment your nameserver lives inside the same domain it's supposed to serve. If ns1.example.com is the nameserver for example.com, then finding ns1.example.com's IP requires asking... example.com's nameservers. Which is ns1.example.com. That's a circular loop with no way in.

A glue record breaks the loop. It's an IP address you register directly with the domain's registry (via your registrar), attached to the nameserver hostname itself, so resolvers get the IP without needing to ask the domain's own DNS first. No glue record, no way to bootstrap into a domain that's its own nameserver.

When you actually need one

You only need a glue record when the nameserver hostname is a subdomain of the domain it's serving, or of a domain pointing back to the same zone. A few common cases:

• Running your own white-label nameservers for reseller hosting: ns1.youragency.com and ns2.youragency.com serving client domains.
• Setting ns1.example.com / ns2.example.com as the nameservers for example.com itself.
• Any setup where the nameserver's domain and the domain being resolved share the same parent zone.

If your nameservers live on a completely separate, already-resolvable domain - like Getwebup's own ns1.getwebup.in - you don't need glue records at all. That's the whole point of using a host's stock nameservers: someone else already solved the bootstrap problem for you.

Symptom → Cause → Fix

Symptom: Domain resolves fine for a day, then stops working everywhere

Cause: You pointed the domain's nameservers to ns1.yourdomain.com without registering a glue record. It worked briefly because your own resolver had a cached answer, or you tested from a machine that already knew the IP. Once that cache expired, every resolver hit the same circular lookup and gave up.

Fix: Log in to the domain's registrar (not your host's cPanel - the actual registrar account, e.g. GoDaddy, Namecheap, BigRock, Google Domains) and look for "Host Records," "Child Nameservers," or "Glue Records" under domain management. Register:

Nameserver: ns1.example.com  ->  203.0.113.10
Nameserver: ns2.example.com  ->  203.0.113.11

Use your actual server's public IP for each. Then set the domain's nameservers to those same two hostnames.

Symptom: Registrar won't let you save a nameserver that matches the domain

Cause: Some registrar UIs require the glue record (they call it "Host Record" or "Register Nameserver") to exist before you can select it as an actual nameserver for the domain. Trying to set the nameserver first, in the wrong order, throws a validation error.

Fix: Do it in two separate steps, in this order:

1. Create the host record / glue record first, mapping ns1.example.com to an IP.
2. Create the second one, ns2.example.com, on a different IP if possible (registries often want two distinct addresses).
3. Only then go to the nameserver field for the domain and enter both hostnames.

Symptom: Works for .com but the same setup fails for a client's .in or .co.in domain

Cause: Glue record support and terminology differ by TLD and registry. Some ccTLD registries (including certain .in registrars) route glue records through a separate step from the main domain panel, or require the glue IP to be registered before the nameserver change is even submitted for propagation.

Fix: Check the registrar's help docs for that specific TLD - search "[registrar name] glue record [TLD]" - since the field is sometimes buried under "Advanced DNS" or a support ticket rather than the standard nameserver form. If the registrar genuinely doesn't support glue records for that TLD, fall back to Getwebup's own nameservers or an A record instead of forcing a vanity nameserver setup.

Quick reference

Prevention

• Only set up custom nameservers if you actually need white-labeling. If nobody's checking WHOIS for your nameserver name, Getwebup's stock nameservers save you this entire headache.
• Always create the glue record at the registrar before pointing the domain to it - never the other way around.
• Use two different IPs for ns1 and ns2 where the registry allows it. A single IP for both defeats the redundancy that a second nameserver is supposed to provide.
• After setup, verify with dig NS example.com and dig A ns1.example.com from an external network (not your own machine, which may have a cached or hosts-file answer) before telling clients the migration is done.
• Give glue record changes 24-48 hours to propagate through the registry's own network before assuming something is broken - this is separate from normal DNS TTL propagation and can be slower.