What they are
A child nameserver is a nameserver named under your domain, such as ns1.yourdomain.com.au, with its IP address lodged at the registry. Other registrars sometimes call them hostnames, host records or glue records.
The registry needs the address because of a chicken-and-egg problem: to find ns1.yourdomain.com.au, the internet would otherwise have to ask the nameservers of yourdomain.com.au, which is ns1.yourdomain.com.au itself. Lodging the address breaks the loop.
When you need one
- You run your own DNS servers and want them named under your domain.
- A hosting provider asks you to create child nameservers for a server you rent from them.
Add a child nameserver
- Open your domain's page in My CamCore, then DNS, then Child nameservers.
- Enter the first part of the name, such as ns1, in Name.
- Enter the server's IPv4 or IPv6 address in Address.
- Choose Add nameserver.
To give a nameserver another address, enter it beside the nameserver and choose Add address. Remove address drops one address; Remove deletes the nameserver.
Creating a child nameserver doesn't make any domain use it. To use it, enter its name on the Nameservers tab of the domain that should use it. See Nameservers and CamCore DNS.
Before you remove one
Any domain that still lists the nameserver loses it, and if it was that domain's only working nameserver, the domain stops resolving. Change those domains' nameservers first.