Q. What is a domain name server?
A. The domain name system (DNS) is a naming scheme for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each participating entity. Most importantly, it translates more readily memorized domain names to the numerical IP addresses needed for locating and identifying computer services and devices worldwide.
Every web2.0 has an A record that corresponds to an IP address. When you type in a domain name and press enter, the first thing your computer does is check with a domain name server (DNS) to convert the website URL into an IP address so it can find where on Earth that site resides and bring it up for you.
DNS history checks can be helpful when you are purchasing an expired domain. And the tools I suggest allow you to see all of the changes made to a specific domain name over time.
Why do we need Domain DNS history?
New domain owners often want to see the DNS history out of curiosity. Having access to an older version of your domains’ name servers would give you an idea about services that handled hosting, emails, etc.
Tools to check the DNS history for free
The tools listed below are free to use, and they are accessible through both the web and mobile to check the DNS history.
DNSHistory.org
They have been crawling DNS records since 2009. And their database currently contains over 650 million domains and over 2 billion DNS records.
dnshistory.org/dns-records/ and enter the domain name.
DNShistory.org lists almost every record, including MX.
CompleteDNS.com
These guys host the largest DNS record history database, with more than 2.2 billion nameserver changes detected, daily updated. And their premium history checker allows to lookup up to 5,000 domains at once.
Visit completedns.com/dns-history and type in the domain name.
completedns.com only lists NS records. But I’ve noticed that they could fetch the NS details of mighil.com since 2002
There are several other options available as well. But I feel both DNSHistory.org and completeDNS.com are straightforward in terms of usability.