Parts of a Domain Name
Generally, a domain name has a sub-domain and top-level domain. The sub-domain is a unique name that a website owner has registered with a domain registrar company. The top-level domain is an abbreviated name or suffix, which identifies the Internet domain to which the sub-domain belongs. The dots within the domain name function as dividers.
Other People Are Reading
-
Facts
-
Top-level domain names refer to the type of business or organization with which a website domain is affiliated. For example, the suffix .com, refers to Commercial business, and .gov refers to Government agencies.
History
-
The Internet is available for anyone to use, and is not owned by a commercial company. In fact, several independent organizations help maintain the required standards and protocols to keep the service operating. For instance, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) manages addressing and locating computers on the Internet. The Internet Society handles Internet issues and W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) establishes rules and standards for communication on the Internet.
When a computer user connects to the Internet and request a website, several DNS (Domain Name System) servers use the domain name to search for the IP (Internet Protocol) address linked to the domain name.
-
Significance
-
The DNS system was created to help make user-friendly domain names easier to find, because numeric IP addresses are hard for people to remember.
Function
-
ICANN maintains several root DNS servers that hold the registries for the top-level domains. When you use an Internet browser to search for a domain name, thousands of computers called resolvers query root DNS servers to find the top-level domain registry. Once the top-level domain is found, then the IP address is located for the domain name.
The browser uses the IP address to request the file stored a web server. The server sends the file to the browser, which interprets the HTML code and displays the web page on your computer.
Identification
-
In order to obtain a domain name for your website, you must check with a domain registrar company to confirm that someone else is not using the name. If so, you will need to choose another unique name for your website.
Time Frame
-
A domain name has an expiration date, and usually expires after one year. It’s important to keep your registrant information up-to-date. Normally, several weeks before your domain name expires, the domain registrar will contact you via email, urging you to renew the name.
-
