The simple name used to find internet (or network) resources is known as a domain name or internet name. Although devices on a network can be immediately accessed by using their IP addresses, most individuals find it difficult to recall these numerical IDs. You would have a new IP address to remember if an IP address changed (for instance, when a website was relocated to a new server or new ISP). By using domain names, the IP address is separated from the name that the user must remember.

With a high availability website, which has numerous web servers, the domain name can be set to resolve to one of many IP addresses, providing a level of load-balancing that would be undoubtedly more difficult if consumers used the IP address directly.

Domain Hierarchy

A hierarchical structure is used for domain names. A dot separates each section of the hierarchy (.). Top Level Domain (TLD) names are at the top of the hierarchy. TLDs include the two-letter country codes and the TLDs.com,.org, and.net. You can register subdomains directly under several TLDs, such as.com,.org, and.net. Other TLDs, such as.uk and.au, only permit third level registrations.

Control over a domain name is transferred to the registration's owner when a domain is registered.

Domain Registration

An online registrar is where domain names are registered. The registrar will set up nameserver entries and a "whois" record for the domain name. Contact information for the domain registrant can be found in the whois record. The nameserver entries outline the DNS servers for the domain, which anyone can use to find your website or email servers. See the What is DNS article on this website for further details about DNS.

Subdomains can be created under a domain name. Managing a subdomain can be done using the same DNS servers as managing the main domain, or it can be outsourced.

Example.com is a good illustration of a domain name. Example.com is a subdomain of the.com top-level domain with this domain name. Subdomains of example.com may then be created by the domain name's owner.

DNS