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Question: What is a domain name?

Answer: A domain name is the computers name that is registered on the internet.

The domain name is a unique name that identifies a device on the internet. Domain names always have 2 or more parts separated by dots - the first part is the specific machine and sub-network and the part on the right is the server and type of server.

domain namespecificservertype
www.usd.eduwwwusdedu
mail.usd.edumailusdedu
hab.sss.usd.eduhab.sssusdedu

that last example has the specific information split into
a computer name and a subnetwork name

hab computer name sss sub-network

This is actually an old approach to naming. The new approach has added a 2 letter abbreviation of the country to the end of the url. For now there is no plan to re-assign all of the domain names that did not include this country code.

domain namespecificservertypecountry
www.wow.com.jpwwwwowcom jp (japan)

It is possible for a single computer to have more than one domain name. This allows for serving several web sites - making each appear to be running on an individual machine.

Usually all of the computers, printer, and other devices on a given network have the same right-hand portion of their domain names. This helps the network administrator keep track of the machines and helps trace problems. Here at USD each department has a sub-network name.

Question: What keeps track of the domain name?

    Answer: There is a program called a Domain Name Server (DNS) that runs on your ISP's computer. Each IP address on the network should have a DNS entry. This is basically a database that associates a name (DNS entry) to an IP address.
Question: How can I change my domain name?

    Answer: Your domain name is assigned by your ISP. The right part of the domain name is registered and it's not free. If you are on a network that has static (fixed) IP addresses, you may be able to request a change the left part of your domain name through your system administrator.
Question: What does the .com mean?

    Answer: Just a way to differentiate between different types of sites. Below is a list of some of the more common types of addresses.

    abbreviation%stands for abbreviation%stands for
    .com28commercial .gov2government
    .edu12educational .mil4military
    .net19network provider .org2organization

Question: What are some of the country codes?

    Answer: Here is a short javascript code that generates country codes and also some common extensions like edu.
    Country
    Codes
    in URL's

    Instructions:
    Simply "click
    the letter of
    the first initial
    of the 2 letter country code
    or country
    name.
    Then "click"
    the Find
    button.

    		A

    F

    K

    P

    U

    		 B

    G

    L

    Q

    V

    		 C

    H

    M

    R

    W

    Z

    		 D

    I

    N

    S

    X

    		 E

    J

    O

    T

    Y

    		 Country Code Results
    There are nearly 300 country codes assigned by the ISO (International Standards Organization)
Question: I just looked up .to and it says Tonga - why is that starting to appear so much? There aren't that many sites in Tonga are there?

    Answer: Well after someone came up with the country code - someone thought it would be cool to have a site called jump.to or surf.to etc. Tonga, being a relatively small place, thought they could sell a few rights to their domain name.

14982

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