The NS, or Name Server records of a domain name, point out which servers handle the Domain Name System (DNS) records for it. Setting the name servers of a specific hosting provider for your domain address is the most effective way to direct 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), etc, if you wish to change some of these records, you will be able to do it via their system. To put it differently, the NS records of a domain 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 retrieve the DNS records of the domain name you are attempting to reach. This way the site you will see will be retrieved from the correct location. The name servers typically have a prefix “ns” or “dns” and each domain name has at least two NS records. There's no practical difference between the two prefixes, so which one a host company is going to use depends solely on their preference.