Why won’t my name servers update for my .CO.ZA domain?

The central registry for .CO.ZA requires that name servers be authoritative for your domain before they will accept name server changes.

This means:

• A DNS zone must already exist for your domain on the new name servers.
• The name servers must be properly configured to serve your domain and have diverse IP addresses.
• If the name servers do not respond authoritatively, the registry will refuse the update.

What should you do?

Contact your new hosting provider and ask them to create a DNS zone for your domain on their name servers. Once the name servers are authoritative, the registry will allow the change.

How to check if your name servers are authoritative:

Use the dig command in your terminal:

dig yourdomain.co.za @your-name-server

Example:

dig dynadot.co.za @ns1.mynameserver.com

What a problem response looks like:

; <<>> DiG 9.10.6 <<>> dynadot.co.za @ns1.dynadot.com

;; global options: +cmd

;; Got answer:

;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: REFUSED, id: 44062

;; flags: qr rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; WARNING: recursion requested but not available

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:

; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 1232

;; QUESTION SECTION:

;dynadot.co.za. IN A

;; Query time: 180 msec

;; SERVER: 162.159.27.147#53(162.159.27.147)

;; WHEN: Tue May 27 11:33:31 CST 2025

;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 42