Manage your domain name’s glue records

Glue records (also known as private name servers) are a type of DNS record used to set the authoritative name servers of a domain name as subdomain names of that same domain name. Most domain names don’t require glue records, but the option is available for those with advanced domain name needs.

Glue records are similar to A records, but with the IP address of the name servers. They are necessary when you want to set name servers on a subdomain name of the root domain name.

For example, if your domain name is yourgroovydomain.com, its name servers might be ns[1-3].yourgroovydomain.com. Without glue records, trying to resolve the IP address of the root domain name (yourgroovydomain.com) would create a circular dependency, because its name server (ns1.yourgroovydomain.com) is in a subdomain name of the root domain name itself. With glue records, the name servers will have their own IP address, avoiding that circular dependency.

Glue records are available for most domain names registered with WordPress.com.

To add a glue record to your domain name:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Upgrades → Domains (or Hosting → Domains if using WP Admin).
3. Click on the name of the domain name to which you want to add a glue record.
4. On the domain name’s management page, expand the card labelled “Glue Records.”
5. In the “Name server” field, enter the subdomain name (such as ns1) for the glue record.
6. In the “IP address” field, enter the glue record’s numeric IP address, such as 123.45.78.9.
7. Click the button labelled “Save.”

You can add more than one glue record to your domain name by clicking the “+ Add Glue Record” link which will appear after you’ve added the first glue record. This will take you through the same process as above.

You can remove a glue record from your domain name by clicking the button labelled “Remove” to the right of the glue record listing.