Domain Name Archives - Super Byte Hosting

Introducing a new website can be daunting. You may have questions about what a domain name is, how to get one, and what types of domain names are available to you. As you continue reading, you will get introduced to the basics of domain names and this will help you decide which type of domain name is right for the new website that you are about to launch. A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control on the internet.

The Basics Of Domain Name

The internet is a vast, electronic network that spans the globe, consisting of millions of individual networks. It is a network of computer networks, linked together by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, and even satellite links. The internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business and government networks, of local to global scope, that is linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies.

A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control within the internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System (DNS). Any name registered in the DNS is a domain name. The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a website is formed from the domain name of that website.

Diving Deeper Into TDL, ccTLD, gTLD:

If you intend to expand your current business online or establish a new one, you must have a website. However, you’ll have to get a domain name for the site before it goes online. You enter a domain name into your browser to locate a website. Google, for instance, has the domain name google.com. The TLD Top-Level Domain you choose for your company must be appropriate before a domain name is registered. The TLD is the final letter of a domain name, such as ‘.org,’ ‘.net,’ ‘.com,’ and so forth.

TLDs

TLDs are controlled by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). ICANN is a nonprofit corporation in charge of organizing the operations, maintaining of several online databases, and providing a reliable and secure connection. IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), which is a branch of ICANN, is how it controls TLDs.

ccTLDs (country code Top-Level Domains) and gTLDs (generic Top-Level Domains) are the two primary categories of upper-level domains. Let’s examine each one separately.

ccTLD

A CC Top Level Domain (TLD) is an internet domain suffix, which is used in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the internet. The name is derived from the country code top-level domains (ccTLD) that are managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). The .cc TLD was introduced in 2010. The .cc top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet country code used to represent the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, which are officially called the Territory of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The .cc domain was originally intended for commercial use and was registered in 1997, making it one of the newer domains. Unlike other domains, there are no restrictions on who can register a .cc domain, making it popular for a variety of uses such as businesses, personal websites, and more.

The ccTLD (country code top-level domain) is a domain extension with two characters that denotes a website’s affiliation with a particular nation. Therefore, the moniker TLD is the country code. They are taken from ISO 3166, a standard that specifies the codes representing nations, particular geographic areas of interest, and crown dependencies and was released by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization). Here are a few instances of ccTLDs:

France – .fr
United Kingdom – .uk
India – .in
European Union – .eu
USA – .us

Additionally, they are separated into closed and open ccTLDs. See what distinguishes them below.

Closed ccTLDs

Several ccTLDs have limitations on who can utilize them or how they can be utilized. The organization in the authority of the country adheres to a set procedure for ccTLD domain registration. These procedures differ from one nation to another. Some call for local corporation registration, whereas others demand proof of residency. Closed ccTLDs include those for Bermuda (.bm), Canada (.ca), Germany (.de), and Australia (.au).

Open ccTLDs

A few ccTLDs have extended their namespaces to anyone in the globe, allowing anyone to register them. Those are all referred to as open ccTLDs and serve as more of a creative provider firm than as a representation of a certain region or nation. Some examples of open ccTLDs are Samoa’s.ws, Colombia’s.co (which is sometimes advertised as the shortened version of firm or corporation), and Cocos Island’s.cc.

gTLDs

A generic top-level domain (gTLD) has three characters or more. Unlike ccTLDs, any user from any location can register for a gTLD because they are completely unrestricted.

Here are a few instances of gTLDs:

Short for information – .info
Short for network – .net
Short for organisation – .org
Short for commercial – .com

The Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) is a new domain name extension that has been introduced in recent years. This new domain extension is meant to provide a more generic and easily remembered alternative to the more traditional country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). The gTLD is not restricted to any specific country and can be used by businesses and individuals around the world.

Businesses looking for web addresses within the domains of .info, .com, .org, or .net may run into major difficulties as a result of the internet’s rapid expansion. Since there are so many websites, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) launched a new 1500 generic highest-level over domains to aid niche firms in standing out from the crowd whilst expressing their unique identities. Those new gTLDs consist of a number of others like .clothing, .holdings, .bike, .shop, and .app.

Conclusion

A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control on the internet. Domain names are used in various networking contexts and application-specific naming and addressing purposes. In general, a domain name identifies a network domain, or it represents an Internet Protocol (IP) resource such as a personal computer used to access the internet, a server computer hosting a website or the website itself or any other service communicated via the internet. Once you get familiar with all these types of TLDs, you will be able to choose the aptest domain name for your site.

A domain name is a string of characters that is used to identify the domain of the network or Internet Protocol (IP). It consists of TLD and SLD. The first level of the domain is called the Top-level domain (TLD). This level includes generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) and country-code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD). Some examples of Generic top-level domains are .com (as in commercial), .net, .org as in organization, .edu as in education, etc. Different organizations use different extensions based on the services that are provided by the organization. The second-level domain is known as the unique identifier. This domain is found before the Top-level domain.

Parts Of The URL

Consider the below URL as an example:

https://blog.uk.gov.org

Where-

Protocol– HTTP
Sub- Domain Name: blog
Top-Level Domain: org
Second-Level Domain: gov
Third-Level Domain: uk

Top-Level Domain

The top-Level Domain comes right after the Second-Level Domain. They are called extensions. This specifies the entity of the organization. The Top-Level Domain can be classified into two categories, Generic Top-Level Domain and country-code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD).

Some of the most common extensions of Generic Top-Level Domains are .com, .net, .org, .co, .edu, etc. The most common extension that is in use is .com. Country code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD) specifies the geographical locations. This consists of two letters at the end of the URL. For example, .ru means Russia, .de means Germany, .nl means the Netherlands, and .br means Brazil. Likewise, every country in the world has a unique country code Top-Level Domain.

Second-Level Domain

The second-Level Domain is used to identify the website. Every website has a unique second-level domain. The second-level domain plays a vital role in identifying the ideal website the user is looking for. The second-level domain plays a prominent role in the mail address which is created for the employers within the organization. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) has reserved three domain names that are kept only for the use of the second-level domain.

Subdomain

Subdomains are the third level in the hierarchy of the domain. The most common Subdomain is www. Subdomains are found right after the protocol. Other examples include map.google.com and blog.example.com

Protocol

Protocols are of two types namely Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). Nowadays there are very few legitimate websites using Hypertext Transfer Protocol. HTTPS provides security for all the websites during transactions or when user details are entered.

Fully Qualified Domain Name

An absolute domain name is also known as the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN). Domain names are put forth by the guidelines and procedures of the Domain Name System (DNS). The label can be of length between 1 octet to 63 octets. The entire domain name is restricted to 255 octets including full stops. An FQDN includes all the levels of the domain. Technically, all the individual parts of a Fully Qualified Domain Name are subdomains. The need for an FQDN first arose out of a requirement for uniformity as the internet was growing in size in a rapid manner.

If the domain name system ends with a dot, it is said to be complete and is a fully qualified domain name. Whereas, if there is no dot at the end of the URL, a suffix can be added to it. In this case, it will not be considered a Fully Qualified Domain Name.

The domain names that are not fully qualified are called Partially Qualified Domain Names(PQDN). PQDN is used for accessing the domain name conveniently. People tend to assume that FQDN and PQDN are the same but it is not true. PQDN includes only the hostname and the domain name. The top-level domains are not considered by them. PQDN can be termed as the root domain without the protocols portion or subdomain portions.

Ways To Look For A Fully Qualified Domain Name

The process of looking for a Fully Qualified Domain Name is very simple. It demands different steps for different operating systems. It is necessary for all the devices to possess a Fully Qualified Domain Name in order to perform effectively.

MAC OS

STEP-1: Open the terminal.

STEP-2: Enter the command “hostname -f” on the command prompt.

STEP-3: The terminal will return the Fully Qualified Domain Name of the device.

LINUX

STEP-1: Open the terminal in the respective device.

STEP-2: Enter the command “hostname -A” and click enter in the command prompt.

STEP-3: A Fully Qualified Domain Name will be returned.

Windows

STEP-1: Search for the “control panel” in the search box.

STEP-2: Select the system security option followed by systems.

Control panel -> system security -> systems -> FQDN

STEP-3: The name of the label will be listed.

Uses of Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)

SSL Certificate

These certificates are used to keep the data of a customer safe and secure during the process of the transaction. The SSL Certificates are installed on the server, to identify the location of the organization.

Remote Host

In a case where the device is unable to connect to a remote device, a network, or a virtual machine (VM) using the IP address, a Fully Qualified Domain Name can be specified to carry out the function of establishing the connection between the two devices.

Granting Access

The Fully Qualified Domain Name is used to grant access to a Particular Domain Service or Protocol. The DNS and FQDN go hand in hand. All the activity across networks involves the presence of DNS, so the FQDN also gets involved in this process.

Few Final Words

A Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) contains the hostname, top-level domain, second-level domain, third-level domain, and subdomain if any. The procedure of acquiring an SSL Certificate and migrating from one server to another is significantly facilitated by an FQDN. A Fully Qualified Domain Name is capable of doing a vast range of features.