| A domain name is a name that identifies a | | | | community. Sponsored by Societe |
| computer on the net. This is the definition | | | | Internationale de Telecommunications |
| that we are concerned with as an online | | | | Aeronautiques SC (SITA) |
| marketer. Technically domain name also | | | | |
| implies many other relates meanings but we | | | | * .asia: Reserved for the Pan-Asia and Asia |
| would not consider them for a while. | | | | Pacific region. sponsored by DotAsia |
| | | | Organisation |
| Hostname or web address are more common terms | | | | |
| used for domain names. Domain names provide | | | | * .biz: Restricted to businesses, operated by |
| more rememberable names to stand in for | | | | NeuLevel |
| numeric IP address. It is because of domain | | | | |
| names that you are able to remember the names | | | | * .cat: Reserved for the Catalan linguistic |
| of websites which are actually represented by | | | | and cultural community, sponsored by |
| numbers. | | | | Fundació puntCat. |
| | | | |
| (It is easier to remember instead of | | | | * .com : Operated by Verisign Global Registry |
| 132.173.0.654.) | | | | Services |
| | | | |
| The flexibility of the domain name system | | | | * .coop : Reserved for cooperatives. |
| allows multiple IP addresses to be assigned | | | | Sponsored by Dot Cooperation LLC. |
| to a single domain name, or multiple domain | | | | |
| names to be assigned to a single IP address. | | | | * .info: Operated by Afilias Limited |
| | | | |
| Domain names are different from URLs. Let us | | | | * .jobs: Reserved for the human resource |
| take an example to differentiate between | | | | management community. Sponsored by |
| domain name and a universal resource locator | | | | EmployMedia LLC,operated by Afilias Limited |
| | | | |
| URL: | | | | * .mobi: Reserved for consumers and providers |
| | | | of mobile products and services sponsored by |
| Domain name: In this example the domain name | | | | mTLD Top Level Domain, Ltd. |
| has two parts yourdomain and .com. | | | | |
| | | | * .museum : Restricted to museums and related |
| .com is called top level domain (TLD) and | | | | persons. sponsored by the Museum Domain |
| yourdomain would be called second level | | | | Management Association (MuseDoma) |
| domain. Similarly if you make a further | | | | |
| subdomain and name it somename then the | | | | * .name: Restricted to individuals. Operated |
| address to that would become | | | | by Global Name Registry. |
| | | | |
| In such situations somename would be called | | | | * .net: Operated by Verisign Global Registry |
| third level domain. You can create any number | | | | Services. |
| of domains on a TLD without any restriction. | | | | |
| Domains of third and higher levels are | | | | * .org: Operated by Public Interest Registry |
| commonly called subdomains. | | | | |
| | | | * .pro: Restricted to licensed professionals. |
| You must have seen many kinds of TLDs when | | | | Operated by RegistryPro |
| surfing the web. | | | | |
| | | | * .travel: Reserved for entities whose |
| .com is most commonly used top level domain. | | | | primary area of activity is in the travel |
| Others which are commonly used are .org, | | | | industry. Sponsored by Tralliance |
| .biz, .net etc. There are many others TLDs | | | | Corporation. |
| which are permissible by ICANN (Internet | | | | |
| Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.) | | | | But that is not all. Apart from these TLDs |
| which looks after the work of assignment of | | | | which are called generic TLDs and are under |
| domain names and IP addresses. | | | | direct control of ICANN, there are many |
| | | | country code TLDs or ccTLDs which are country |
| Currently this list includes following TLDs- | | | | or region specific. Thus .us is for USA and |
| | | | .uk is for UK. |
| * .aero: Reserved for the global aviation | | | | |