title: Route53: Where are SOA records, NS records stored?
body: <p>Route 53 is supposed to be an Authoritative Name Server as per the AWS docs. If <em>example.com</em> is the domain that I have bought, and I have <em>www.example.com</em> pointing to an <em>IP 192.0.2.4</em>, then, the <strong>T</strong>op <strong>L</strong>evel <strong>D</strong>omain <strong>Name Server</strong>(the NS for ".com") stores a mapping between the <strong>A</strong>uthoritative <strong>N</strong>ame <strong>S</strong>erver (ANS) for the domain <em>example.com</em> and the domain example.com as shown below:</p>
  
  <p><strong>example.com. 172800 IN NS ns1.awsdns.com</strong></p>
  
  <p>So, this is the NS record and this <strong>NS record</strong> is sitting in the TLD Name Server for ".com". Is my understanding right? If yes, then, why do I also get to see the same record in the Route 53 Console? Route 53 is supposed to be an Authoritative Name Server. Why does an Authoritative Name Server need to keep pointers about the <em>example.com</em> domain being served by itself? Isn't the fact that the ANS for the domain <em>example.com</em> is <em>ns1.awsdns.com</em>, needs to be known to the .com TLD NS and not Route53 itself? </p>
  
  <p>Also, where would the SOA record reside? Would it reside in the ANS itself? Below is an SOA record:</p>
  
  <p><strong>ns1.awsdns.com admin.awsdns.com 2013022001 86400 7200 604800 300</strong></p>
  
  <p>This has the:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><p>The primary name server for the domain: <strong>ns1.awsdns.com</strong></p></li>
  <li><p>The responsible party for the domain: <strong>admin.awsdns.com</strong></p></li>
  <li><p>timestamp that changes whenever you update your domain: <strong>2013022001</strong></p></li>
  <li><p>The number of seconds before the zone should be refreshed: <strong>86400</strong></p></li>
  <li><p>The number of seconds before a failed refresh should be retried: <strong>7200</strong></p></li>
  <li><p>The upper limit in seconds before a zone is considered no longer authoritative: <strong>604800</strong></p></li>
  <li><p>The negative result TTL: <strong>300</strong></p></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>If this SOA record is sitting in the ANS itself, that is in the <em>ns1.awsdns.com</em> machine itself, then what is the point of this SOA record telling the ANS <em>ns1.awsdns.com</em> that <em>ns1.awsdns.com</em> is the primary name server?</p>
  
  <p>Can someone clear the confusion here? I am utterly confused.</p>