A Domain Name provides a unique identity on the internet
- It is used by Businesses, Organisations and Individuals
- Acts as an alias for the 4-part numbered IP address which identifies the hosting server
- For example, www.weblink4u.co.uk is easier to remember than 123.456.789.123
A Domain Name consists of 2 main sections
- Identifying name, for example, business-name, product-name, weblink4u, etc
- And a suffix group (domain type, aka TLD): co.uk, com, biz, eu, etc
The Identifying Name must be unique within each suffix group
- Only one version of a name is allowed within each suffix grouping
- The name identifying name weblink4u is only permitted once for the co.uk suffix group
- But weblink4u can be used in other suffix groups like com, biz, eu, etc
- But once again it can only used once in each group
Prefix added to access website in a browser
- Prefix - http://www - is added when your domain is "hosted"
- This creates a full Website Address, eg, http://www.weblink4u.co.uk
- Most modern browsers no longer require the prefix to be used as they add it automatically
- So typing weblink4u.co.uk into the browser is usually all that's needed to view the website.
- Website Address is also called a URL - Uniform Resource Locator
Domain Name must be Registered
- With the appropriate authority for the domain suffix, eg, Nominet
- Normally registered through an authorised Domain Name Registrar
- Many registrations are for fixed periods of 1 or 2 years
- Avoid potential problems by always renewing before the renewal date
Domain Names can also be used for Email Addresses
- When a domain name is formally hosted on an internet linked server, it can be used to create unique individual email addresses.
- Using a special facility within the hosting server, unique email addresses are created by adding a recipient followed by an "@" in front of the domain name.
- For example, info@weblink4u.co.uk, enquiries@weblink4u.co.uk.
- The recipient can be a person's name, department or anything at all - but must be unique.
- Duplicate names or recipients are not allowed.
- Each email address must be fully configured on the hosting server prior to use by the web designer or IT staff.