authoritative server

The server that holds the zone itself and answers from the file, not from memory. It is the only place a record exists: every other answer on the internet is a copy with an expiry date. dig +short example.com NS names them, and dig @ns1.provider.net example.com A +noall +answer asks one directly — the @server form is what bypasses every cache. Asking your own resolver, or @1.1.1.1, cannot tell you whether a record is published: a stale answer there is indistinguishable from a record that was never published. That is the gap between a two-second check and an afternoon of waiting. A disagreement between the authoritative server and a public resolver is normal and temporary; a disagreement between two authoritative servers for the same zone is a configuration fault.