How to Take the Mystery Out of Domain Name Meanings

By: Jeffrey Meier
Submitted: 2007-01-17 13:08:07
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher | Social Bookmarking
Rating:
 

Domain Name has various meanings. It could be the name entered by the users in their address bar of the computer and then looked up in the global Domain Name System-DNS to visit the particular site. All domain names have their own assigned IP address and the DNS translates the IP address into words. It could also be a unique address on the Internet referred to as Internet address. Domain names are also referred to as Uniform Resource Locaters or URLs.

In DNS a label could be the digits, hyphens and each string of letters used between the dots. There are certain rules that are applied for these valid labels which have been changed with time. Before labels had to begin with a letter and end with a letter or digit .Any intervening characters may be letters, digits, or hyphens. They must be between 1 and 63 characters long. Now they can begin with a digit and can have internal underscores but no domain name can be all numeric. These rules depend on the domain level. Some top level domains have more rules.

URL and Domain name:
The difference between a URL and a domain name:
URL: http://www.xyz.com/
Domain name: xyz.com

A domain name can have more than one IP address and more than one domain name assigned to an IP address. At the same time one server can have multiple roles, and one role can be applied for multiple servers. One IP address can even be assigned to several servers. The IP address and the server name are interchangeable. This makes it impossible for the server to know which IP address was used. But with the help of HTTP- hypertext transfer protocol, you need to specifically tell the server which domain name is being used. So, one server with one IP address can provide different sites for different domain names.

Say, the server particular server covers all these sites:
xyz.com
xyz.net
xyz.org

When you put a request, then you will get the data corresponding to the host name requested.

Domain Levels:
Top-level domain

The end of all domain names is called top level domain. Say, xyz.edu or xyz.net or xyz.org etc where edu, net and org are all top level domain. This could be a list of generic names or a 2 character territory code like .ac or .ad or .in which are country code top level domains.

Second level domain

Second-level domain names are directly to the left of .com, .net, and the other top-level domains. For example: en.xyz.net where xyz is the second level domain.

Third level domain

The next level i.e. the third-level domains are to the left of a second-level domain. Here en is the third level domain.

Jeffrey Meier of Jam727 Enterprises offers much more detailed information about Domain Names at http://www.jam727.com/domainname.htm There you will also find many more articles about the Internet and other interesting subjects.

Article source: Expert Articles

Most Recent Articles in Domain Names category

  • 1 Year on From Sunrise for the .asia Domain Launch - By: James Betchley
    Nearly a year has passed since Early Bird Sunrise registration began for the coveted new .asia domain extension, the Early Bird Sunrise period (SR2a) was the first opportunity for commercial entities to register a .asia extension. Prior to this, registration was limited to Asian governments wishing to submit their public bodies and culturally or economically important domains during the pre-Sunrise period.
  • What Everybody Ought To Know About Domain Reselling Business - By: Sandra Mathew
    Domain Reselling Business Ethics - Learn how Domain Resellers jumpstart their business in the Domain and Hosting Industry.
  • It's good form to credit your source even when it comes from the public domain - By: Narinderjit Singh
    "Okay, well what will your site be on?" He encouraged me to think about the things in which I was an expert. That wasn't too tough. I've spent five years helping people in crisis find drug addiction treatment. "How about if I help people understand drug addiction treatment." Now he was sure I had taken too many falls, and that they had all been while riding without a helmet. More out of pity than duty, he showed me how to use Overture's bid tool.
  • Domain selection - 5 Tips for choosing a domain name - By: George Pallan
    Domain selection - 5 Tips for choosing a domain name The domain name is a very important part of your website. The careful selection and key wording of your domain name is one of the most crucial part of the initial steps in setting up any website. Here are the 5 tips for choosing a domain name.
  • The Quest for the Perfect Domain Name - By: Christie Cadogan
    The details one has to consider when searching for that perfect domain name. Domain name choices.
  • Choosing a Domain Name for your Success Coaching Business - By: Mikel Bruce
    Your domain name is one of the most important decisions that you can make when you start your business and/or when you decide to invest in a website for your Coaching Practice. Even if you have an established website and domain name, if it does not fit certain standards you may want to consider changing it so that it is a more effective tool for helping you grow your business
  • Benefits of Choosing Reseller Hosting - By: Richa Sinha
    Reseller hosting is a form of web hosting wherein the account owner may split up their allotted hard drive space and bandwidth and resell web hosting. Hence, it acts as a middleman between parent web hosting company and the end customer.
  • Domain name – An Introduction! - By: Richa Sinha
    A domain name is a name that identifies one or more IP address. These are mainly used in URLs to identify particular web page. This article elaborates more about types of domain names.
  • Simple Step For Choosing Great Web Host - By: Richa Sinha
    There are thousands of web hosts around today with thousands of plans to choose from making what was once a simple procedure seem like a daunting task for both newbie and pro alike.
  • Some Common Myths Against Domain - By: Richa Sinha
    Applicants for domain names have developed their own myths. Some have been repeated so often, they sound true. Those untold information is what this paper is going to tell you.