A domain name is your address on the Internet. Like any address, it is important for the success of your business that you use, promote and protect it so that customers can find you easily. More than this, your domain name is your online identity and brand – your customers won't just know you as Your Company Inc., they will know you as “yourcompany.com”.
Domain names were developed to make it easy for people to find things on the Internet. Computers find each other by using a set of numbers called an IP Address (IP is an acronym for Internet Protocol), these look like 69.72.214.243. The Domain Name System (DNS) is a set of software and a computer that translates domain names into their matching IP addresses and vice versa.
Top-level Domain Name availability is verified by accredited Registrars through a universal database of available Top-level Domain Names. This database is called the SRS or Shared Registration System and what it does is prevent a Domain Name that is successfully registered from being registered through another Domain Name registration site.
The domain name must conform to Standard rules for domain names:
- Only characters in the range of A to Z, 0 to 9 and hyphen are allowed.
- Names cannot begin or end with a hyphen.
The maximum length is 63 characters (exclusive of the .com, .org, .net portion).
You can get a Domain name registered from one of the Domain name registrars. The pricing for Domains varies from registrar to registrar. Some registrars dupe their customers by charging exorbitant fees for domain registration. Sometimes they charge $ 35 per year. Some others can offer you the same domain at $ 7.99. It does not matter which registrar you choose to get your domain registered. As ultimately the domain records are going to be held by the registry.
A domain name is a combination of two or more words. The last word is called “Top Level Domain”. A Top-Level Domain (TLD) is the suffix that is attached to the end of a domain name. For instance, in the domain name, netlynx.com, “.com” is the TLD. Generic Top Level Domains (gTLD) such as .com, .org, .net, can be registered by anybody. To the left of TLD comes “Second Level Domain”(SLD). E.g. in ‘netlynx.org', netlynx is the second level domain; ‘.com' is the TLD. One can also have ‘domains.netlynx.com’; here ‘domains' is called the host name or “Third Level Domain”.
Domain Registration is the term used to describe the process of acquiring a domain name from a domain name registrar.
Any entity such as Individuals, Organizations, ISPs, Corporate, Resellers, etc in any type of profession can register a domain to get recognition on the Internet.
You can register a domain name from a minimum of one year to a maximum of ten years.
A registry provides direct services to registrars only, not Internet end-users. The Registry database contains only Domain Name service (DNS) information (Domain Name, name server names and name server Internet Protocol [IP] numbers) along with the name of the Registrar that registered the name and basic transaction data. It does not contain any Domain Name Registrant or contact information.
A Registrar provides direct services to Domain Name registrants. The Registrar database contains customer information in addition to the DNS information contained in the registry database. Registrars process name registrations for Internet end-users and then send the necessary DNS information to a Registry for entry into the centralized Registry database and ultimate propagation over the Internet.
For registering a domain name, there are two ways an individual go through. First one is to do it through buying hosting rights from a web hosting provider. Another one is to register a domain name with an organization known as ICANN with the help of a domain name registrar directly. While doing this an individual needs to pay some fee. It is must for all people who want to register their domain name. For eCommerce domain hosting, a procedure is same, and a person needs to register his domain name initially to start hosting. Without domain name registration, it is not possible to host a website & start any business. Through domain name, only a customer can reach to an individual & an individual can get customers for running his business through his domain name.
Various Methods of Domain Name Registration
Domain name registration is done in different ways. One of them is to decide route preferred by an individual. He needs a place then to store files or content, and he wants to display on his eCommerce website. He can do it on his computer or else can store them on another company's servers, depends wholly on his choice. Most web hosting services can register a domain name for an individual's website. He needs to select his way, and he wants to take and follow the appropriate set of instructions.
An individual needs to verify with his ISP means Internet service providers. He can go for the web hosting only if his ISP allows him to do. There are two TLDs or better known as Top-level Domains used ordinarily, and that is .com or .net. On any of these TLDs, an individual can use to register his domain name. These are available at a high price than other TLDs. There are more domains available for registering a domain name, and these are .info, .biz etc. which are available at a low price than TLDs, used for a better business purpose.
ICANN
ICANN stands for “Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers”
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is an internationally organized, non-profit corporation that has responsibility for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domain name system management, and root server system management functions. These services were originally performed under U.S. Government contract by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and other entities. ICANN now performs the IANA function.