"SOA" is a resource record type. Content DNS servers may be "masters".

You've come to this page because you've asked a question similar to the following:

My DNS server is SOA for …

This is the Frequently Given Answer to such statements.

"SOA" stands for "Start of Authority", and that is not a term that applies to DNS servers. A DNS server cannot be termed a "start of authority". The concept simply has no applicability to DNS servers.

The concept applies, inasmuch as it applies at all, to DNS database content, with a database resource record of the SOA type denoting the apex of a "zone of authority" within the DNS data.

The terms that you are groping for are "content DNS server" and "master".

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