Domain names are used in URLs to
identify particular web pages. For
example, in the URL http://www.webmail.us/jobs,
the domain name is webmail.us. A domain
name needs to be registered before
building a web page or creating email
addresses with that domain extension.
Domain names represent a website's
IP address—the string of numbers
that are the true identifiers of a
website. Domain names can represent
one or more IP addresses.
A domain name needs to be registered
with a domain registrar, before building
a website or creating email addresses
with that domain extension.
DNS
- 'Domain Name Services'
Every domain is assigned one or
more unique numeric addresses, called
IP addresses. DNS takes care of locating
and routing information to the domains
so people can access your website
and send you email.
DNS is comprised of a combination
of MX Records, A Records, and CNAME
Records (see definitions below).
Domain
Registrar
A domain registrar is a company that
allows businesses and consumers to
purchase the rights to specific domain
names. A domain registrar is essentially
an online store for purchasing, transferring,
and renewing domain names.
ICANN
- 'Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers'
The Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a non-profit
corporation that was formed to assume
responsibility for the IP address
space allocation, protocol parameter
assignment, domain name system management,
and root server system management
functions previously performed under
U.S. Government contract by IANA and
other entities.
For more information on ICANN, please
visit icann.org.
Name
Servers
A name server is a server within
the Internet network that performs
translations between fully qualified
domain names and IP addresses, according
to the domain name system. A name
server receives a query about a domain
name and then sends back the IP address
for that domain, thus routing email
and web addresses accordingly.
TLD
- 'Top Level Domain'
A top-level domain (TLD) identifies
the most general part of the domain
name in an Internet address. A TLD
is either a generic top-level domain
(gTLD), such as "com" for
commercial, "edu" for educational,
"org" for non-profit, or
a country code top-level domain (ccTLD),
such as "us" for United
States or "sr" for Suriname.
SLD
- 'Second Level Domain'
A second-level domain (SLD) is the
portion of a URL that identifies the
specific and unique administrative
owner associated with an IP address.
The second-level domain name includes
the top-level domain name. For example,
in webmail.us, "webmail"
is a second-level domain and "us"
is the top-level domain.
MX
Record - 'Mail Exchange' Record
An MX Record creates an email route
for a domain name. The MX Record is
what directs email addressed to your
domain to a specific mail server on
the Internet. Customers that already
have an existing web site can use
the Webmail.us email services simply
by pointing their MX Records to our
mail servers. The existing website
can remain untouched, completely separate.
A
Record - 'Address' Record
An A Record assigns an IP address
to a domain name. An A Record routes
domain names to their corresponding
website by pointing to the IP address
assigned by the web hosting provider.
CNAME
- 'Canonical Name' Record
A CNAME creates an alias of an A
Record. The alias gains all properties
of the original, including IP addresses
and mail routes. The purpose of CNAME
Records is to avoid pointing a domain
name directly to an IP address. This
allows web hosts and email service
providers to modify their IP addresses
without forcing customers to change
their DNS records.
