Saturday, July 16, 2011
What is domain Name?
DNS stands for Domain Name System. The DNS is the system by which all Internet service addresses are created, maintained, and used.
Under the Domain Name System, an Internet address has four elements; a server prefix, a domain name, a domain suffix (or extension), and a country code (the only optional element).
The Domain Name System, or DNS, was implemented by ARPAnet in 1984, and is managed by InterNIC (the Internet Network Information Center), based in Virginia. InterNIC, in turn, is operated by ICANN, the non-profit corporation that oversees the DNS.
The DNS makes the Internet more user-friendly, because it uses names and plain English to identify server computers, individual files, and e-mail addresses. Imagine if all web sites, for instance, had to be identified by their IP addresses! Finding what you want to find on the 'Net (and advertising on the 'Net) would be a very difficult proposition without the DNS.
Domain names are used to identify one or more IP addresses. For example, the domain name microsoft.com represents about a dozen IP addresses. Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular Web pages. For example, in the URL http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html, the domain name is pcwebopedia.com.
Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain (TLD) it belongs to. There are only a limited number of such domains. For example:
# gov - Government agencies
# edu - Educational institutions
# org - Organizations (nonprofit)
# mil - Military
# com - commercial business
# net - Network organizations
# ca - Canada
# th - Thailand
Because the Internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, every Web server requires a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate domain names into IP addresses.
How Domain Names Are Spelled
1) Domain names are organized right to left, with general descriptors to the right, and specific descriptors to the left. It is like family surnames to the right, specific person names to the left. These descriptors are called "domains".
2) The "top level domains" (TLD, or parent domain) is to the far right of a domain name. Mid level domains (children and grandchildren) are in the middle. The machine name, often "www", is to the far left.
3) Levels of domains are separated by periods ("dots").
* Example 1 above) About is the mid-level domain, .com is the top level domain.
* Example 7 above) japantimes is the smaller mid-level domain. .co is the larger mid-level domain. .jp is the top level domain.
* Example 10 above) spain is the mid-level domain, .info is the top level domain.
Tech Trivia Note: Most American servers use three-letter top level domains (e.g. ".com", ".edu"). Countries other than the USA commonly use two letters, or combinations of two letters (e.g. ".au", ".ca", ".co.jp").
A Domain Name is Not the Same as URL
To be technically correct, a domain name is commonly part of a larger Internet address called a "URL". A URL goes into much more detail than domain name, providing much more information, including the specific page address, folder name, machine name, and protocol language.
Example Uniform Resource Locator pages, with their domain names bolded:
1. http://horses.about.com/od/basiccare/a/healthcheck.htm
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/books/19potter.html
3. http://www.nrl.navy.mill/content.php?P=MISSION
4. http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsdept/chsi.html
5. http://jobsearch.monster.ca/jobsearch.asp?q=denver&fn=&lid=&re=&cy=CA
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conradblack
7. http://classified.japantimes.co.jp/miscellaneous.htm
8. http://www.dublin.ie/visitors.htm
9. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=26858
10. http://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Destinos/
11. http://azureus.sourceforge.net/download.php
How Does DNS Affect the Everyday User?
DNS affects you in two ways:
1. Domain names are what you will type to visit a web page. (e.g. www.fbi.gov)
2. Domain names can be purchased so that you can have your own website somewhere. (e.g. www.paulsworld.co.uk)
How Domain Names Are Spelled
1) Domain names are organized right to left, with general descriptors to the right, and specific descriptors to the left. It is like family surnames to the right, specific person names to the left. These descriptors are called "domains".
2) The "top level domains" (TLD, or parent domain) is to the far right of a domain name. Mid level domains (children and grandchildren) are in the middle. The machine name, often "www", is to the far left.
3) Levels of domains are separated by periods ("dots").
* Example 1 above) About is the mid-level domain, .com is the top level domain.
* Example 7 above) japantimes is the smaller mid-level domain. .co is the larger mid-level domain. .jp is the top level domain.
* Example 10 above) spain is the mid-level domain, .info is the top level domain.
Tech Trivia Note: Most American servers use three-letter top level domains (e.g. ".com", ".edu"). Countries other than the USA commonly use two letters, or combinations of two letters (e.g. ".au", ".ca", ".co.jp").
TLD (Top Level Domain)
Definition: TLD (Top Level Domain): The last (right-hand) part of a complete Domain Name. For example in the domain name www.matisse.net ".net" is the Top Level Domain. There are a large number of TLD's, for example .biz, .com, .edu, .gov, .info, .int, .mil, .net, .org, and a collection of two-letter TLD's corresponding to the standard two-letter country codes, for example, .us, .ca, .jp, etc. From Matisse.
Top Level Domain
A top level domain, also known as a TLD, is a domain at the top of the Domain Name System hierarchy.
Under the Domain Name System, an Internet address has four elements; a server prefix, a domain name, a domain suffix (or extension), and a country code (the only optional element). A TLD or top level domain, therefore, would consistently follow the naming convention of something such as "http://www.susanward.com".
For years, there were only a few top level domains, such as .com (for commerce), .gov (for government), and .org (for organization). (You can see how the Domain Name System (DNS) simplifed domain names; if you saw .gov as part of the website address, you knew you were dealing with a government site.)
However, because of the explosive growth of the Internet, there's been a corresponding growing need for new top level domains. ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has added quite a few new top level domains to the DNS.
Currently, domain names under the following general Top Level Domains are available: .aero, .biz, .cat, .com, .coop, .info, .jobs, .mobi, .museum, .name, .net, .org, .pro and .travel.
Besides TLDs, there are also country code top level domains (ccTLDs) in the DNS. These are specific to particular countries or geographic regions, such as .ca for Canada and .uk for the United Kingdom.
Also Known As: TLD
Common Misspellings: Top Level Domane.
Examples:
.biz, .com and .info are just three examples of Top Level Domains (TLDs).
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