The NS, or Name Server records of a domain, show which servers manage the Domain Name System (DNS) records for it. Setting the name servers of a particular hosting provider for your domain is the most effective way to forward it to their system and all its sub-records will be handled on their end. This includes A (the IP address of the server/website), MX (mail server), TXT (free text), SRV (services), CNAME (forwarding), etcetera, if you would like to change any one of these records, you are going to be able to do it using their system. To put it differently, the NS records of a domain name point out the DNS servers which are authoritative for it, so when you try to open a web address, the DNS servers are contacted to get the DNS records of the Internet domain you are trying to reach. In this way the website you'll see will be retrieved from the proper location. The name servers usually have a prefix “ns” or “dns” and each domain name has at least 2 NS records. There's no practical difference between the two prefixes, so which one a website hosting provider will use depends completely on their preference.