The NS, or Name Server records of a domain name, show which servers manage 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 forward it to their system and all its sub-records will be managed 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 would like to edit any one of these records, you'll be able to do it via their system. To put it differently, the NS records of a domain address reveal the DNS servers that are authoritative for it, so when you attempt to open a web address, the DNS servers are contacted to obtain the DNS records of the domain name you are trying to reach. This way the site that you're going to see will be retrieved from the right location. The name servers usually have a prefix “ns” or “dns” and each domain has at least 2 NS records. There's no functional difference between the two prefixes, so what type a website hosting provider will use depends completely on their preference.