What is a Domain?

This is one of the most common questions we receive. A domain or "domain name" is the name of a website.

 

Usually, it fits the following format: www.yoursite.com and is the part of the website that people use to market their location on the web.

What is Domain?

In computing and telecommunication in general, a domain is a sphere of knowledge identified by a name. Typically, the knowledge is a collection of facts about some program entities or a number of network points or addresses.

On the Internet, a domain consists of a set of network addresses. This domain is organized into levels. The top-level identifies geographic or purpose commonality (for example, the nation that the domain covers or a category such as "commercial").

 

The second level identifies a unique place within the top-level domain and is, in fact, equivalent to a unique address on the Internet (an IP address). Lower levels of a domain may also be used.

 

Strictly speaking, in the Internet's domain name system (DNS), a domain is a name with which name server records are associated that describe subdomains or host. For example, "whatis.com" could be a domain with records for "www.whatis.com" and "www1.whatis.com," and so forth.

 

In Windows NT and Windows 2000, a domain is a set of network resources (applications, printers, and so forth) for a group of users. The user needs only to log in to the domain to gain access to the resources, which may be located on a number of different servers in the network.

There are various domain names like .com, .edu, .net etc.

.COM – The domain that is designated for commercial businesses

 

.EDU – The domain that is designated to any four–year, degree-granting college and university

 

.MIL – The domain that is designated for the United States military entities.

 

.NET – The domain that was originally designated for Network/Networking Service Providers.

 

.ORG – The domain that was originally used to represent miscellaneous groups such as non–profit groups that do not fit under any of the other domains. This domain can be registered by anyone.

 

.US – Two-letter country code for the United States.

What is Domain Registration?

Domain registration is the process by which a company or individual can secure a website domain, such as www.yoursite.com.

 

Once you have completed domain registration the domain becomes yours for the period of the contract, usually one year.

 

Before registration expires it must be renewed, or the domain reverts back to being available to the general public.

 

Domain registration is available to the public via a registrar. Fees and services vary from company to company, but the process is generally inexpensive.

 

Before a domain registration can be approved, the new name must be checked against existing names in the DNS database.

 

The online registrar provides a field into which you can enter your desired name and hierarchy —- that is, the letters that come after the "dot." Familiar hierarchies are .com, .net, .org, .name, .info and .biz. If the name is not already taken, it is available for domain registration.

During the domain registration process, you will be required to give contact information that will be publicly available through the WHOIS database.