Lorian Network | Building | Domain Names
Computers on the internet communicate with each other by their IP number (their numeric internet address). So where do the names fit in? The Domain Name System (DNS) was created primarily for people, because it is easier for people to remember names than numbers. Think of the Domain Name System as a big look-up table, like a telephone book. When you type in the name of a web site, your computer sends that name to the Domain Name System, that system looks it up, and returns a number. Your computer then uses that numeric address to talk to the web site you wanted to visit. At it's most simple level, that's it (though there's a bit more going on behind the scenes). Old TLD's Represents Availability COM Commercial open to everyone NET Network open to everyone ORG Organization open to everyone EDU Educational restricted to educational institutions GOV Government restricted to US Government MIL Military restricted to US Military INT International international treaty organizations ARPA Address and Routing DNS use only - reverse lookup The ending suffix of a domain name, com, net, org and etc. are called Top Level Domains (TLD's). There are only a few of these generic top level domains available for use, including the familiar com, net and org. Recently, new generic TLD's have been authorized and will be phased-in beginning in the fall of 2001. All of them should be operating sometime in 2002. New TLD's Represents Availability INFO Information open to everyone NAME Personal open to everyone BIZ Business restricted to businesses PRO Professional restricted to the professions COOP Cooperative restricted to cooperatives AERO Aeronautical restricted aeronautical MUSEUM Museum restricted to museums TLD's Country Availability AU Australia Austrialian only CA Canada Canadian only UK Britian UK only JP Japan Japanese only DE Germany German only RU Russia Russian only US United States United States only CC Cocos (Keeling) Islands open to everyone TV Tuvalu open to everyone WS Western Samoa open to everyone There are also hundreds of Top Level Domains belonging to countries. Some countries restrict their TLD's to individuals or organizations within that country. Others allow anyone to register under their TLD. Here are just a few of the country top level domains. For more technical Information about the IP address space and top level domains see: ICANN - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers IANA - Internet Assigned Numbers Authority ARIN - the American Registry for Internet Numbers APNIC - Asia Pacific Network Information Center RIPE NCC - Reseaux IP European Network Coordination Center TYPES OF WEB SITES YOUR DOMAIN NAME
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