Domain name

   

A domain name is the unique name of a computer on the Internet that distinguishes it from the rest.

Every website on the Internet is hosted on a computer (server). Each server has a unique IP address which is nothing but a unique set of numbers, such as "207.142.131.235". To access a particular website, one can specify its IP address in an appropriate application, such as a web browser; however because it is difficult to remember numbers, each IP address is associated with a fully qualified host name (a domain name), such as "www.wikipedia.org".

Translating numeric addresses to alphabetical ones, domain names allow Internet users to localize and visit websites.

Examples

The following examples illustrates the difference between a URL and a Domain name:

URL: http://www.wikipedia.org Domain name: wikipedia.org (subdomain: www) Server name: www.wikipedia.org

In any situation where a URL is used, the IP address and the server name are interchangeable.

Official assignment

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) controls the domain name root to regulate the Internet (accrediting domain names registries) and manage the DNS. For ccTLDs, each country has its own domain registries. ICANN has only a consultation role to these domain registries but is in no position to regulate the terms and conditions and the operations of how/who a domain name is allocated in each of these country level domain registries. Since gTLDs is govern directly under ICANN, all terms and conditions are defined by ICANN with the coorperations of the gTLDs domain registries.

Domain names which are theoritically leased can be considered in the same way that real estate due to a significant impact on online brand building and advertising, search engine optimization etc.

Top Level Domains

Every domain name ends in a top level domain (TLD) name, which is always either one of a small list of general names, or a ISO-3166 two character country code.

Examples of generic Top Level Domain extensions (gTLDs) are:

.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info...

Examples of country code Top Level Domain extensions (ccTLDs) are:

.us, .uk, .fr, .es, .de, .it...

Related Topics

External links

  • Icann.org (http://www.icann.org), Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
  • UDRP (http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm), Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy.
  • Internic.net (http://www.internic.net), public information regarding Internet domain name registration services.
  • IcannWatch.org (http://www.icannwatch.org), a watchdog group that publishes ICANN-related news and articles.
  • NameMatters.com (http://www.namematters.com), a domain name discussion forum.
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