Domain Names What are they and what are they used for?

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Domain Names

What are they

and

what are they used for?

01

Introduction

02

What are domain names?

03

What types of domain names are there?

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Recently, the passing of the domain name .cat by the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) agency of the United States government took place, as well as the publication of several news items by various mediums regarding the opening of registration of the domain .es by companies and brands, within the framework of the Spanish Plan Nacional de Dominios (National Plan of Domain Names). As a result of these events, we received many requests for information about domain names, their nature and uses.

We prepared this report based on the enquiries we received, which is presented here in its edited and updated version.

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Internet is a network of communications which enables communication between millions of computer systems all over the world. The method used to identify all these computers on the Internet is through a numeric code. This code is assigned according to a protocol called Internet Protocol (IP).

The Internet Protocol

When we visit a website or send an email, we are sending or receiving information from one computer to another one. When we do this, we must ensure that the information is sent and received correctly.

The method used to ensure that this information transfer is correct and that it arrives safely at its destination, is Internet Protocol.

The protocol assigns a number to each computer. This number is known as an IP number. The IP number, which is assigned to every computer connected to the Internet, is composed of four digits from 0 to 255 (e.g. 194.224.210.101).

When we connect to a website, what we are doing is connecting to a computer, and asking it to send us the information which is stored inside it, so that we can display it on our computer. However, since people have an easier time memorizing words than number sequences, the Domain Names System, or DNS, was created.

DNS

DNS is the acronym for Domain Name System. It is a system created to translate the IP number of a computer found on the Internet into a text that is easy to memorize for anyone, for example, google.com.

This easy to memorize text is technically called Domain Name, and is found on the URL, the element that appears in the address bar of Internet navigators and which usually looks like this:

http://www.google.com, in which:

- http:// refers to the way in which the data is sent,

in this case, through the hypertext transfer protocol,

- www. refers to the network where the resource is hosted

(in this case, the network of global reach or world wide web),

- google is the name given to the resource being accessed, and

- .com is the domain chosen to display this resource.

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The typology of domain names is similar to the distribution of floors in a building – there is a first floor, a second floor, etc.

- First level domains are the acronyms defined by the ICANN, the agency in charge of

the regulation and organisation of the Domain Names System.

- Second level and subsequent domains, also known as sub-domains, are created and regulated by the entities in charge of management of each of the established first level domains.

So, for example, ESNIC, which is the entity in charge of management of the domain .es, can create different sub-domains, as it did in the National Plan of Domain Names mentioned in the introduction to this report.

First level domain names or Top Level Domains (TLD) of public and common1 use are

divided, in turn, into two different groups:

ccTLD

Acronym for Country-Code Top Level Domains, which is used to refer to the territorial codes of first level domains.

These domains are composed of two letters and correspond to countries, areas or regions. This would be the case of .es for Spain, .tv for Tuvalu, .ca for Canada, .ad for Andorra or .gi for Gibraltar.

The assignment of these domains correspond to that which is stipulated in regulation ISO-3166 (http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/index.html), which is the internationally recognised regulation or system to officially approve territorial acronyms. The list of territories and acronyms of regulation ISO-3166 depends on the publication by the United Nations of the name of the affected territory in the Terminology Bulletin of Country Names or in the Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use (http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49.htm), which are both managed by the Statistics Division of said institution. This makes it a decision that goes beyond the strict reach of the Internet

1 There is another group of domain names, called .Arpa. These are exclusively used for Internet

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regulation accepted internationally to officially approve the territorial acronyms. The list of territories and acronyms of the regulation ISO-3166 depends on the publication by the United Nations of the name of the affected territory in the Terminology Bulletin of Country Names or in the Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use

(http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49.htm), which are both maintained by the Statistics Division of the cited institution. This is then a decision that goes beyond the strict field of the Internet.

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gTLD

Acronym for Generic Top Level Domains, which is used to refer to the generic domain names not subject to regulation ISO-13166, but to the mentioned ICANN.

The domains are composed of three or more letters and can be classified as follows:

Historical gTLD

These are the first seven domains which were created in January 1985 on the Internet. They are:

- .com: Acronym for commerce, originally designed for companies and e-commerce, but

has since widened and can be now considered an free use domain.

- .net: Acronym for network, which is a domain designed for everything that cannot be

included in any of the other existing gTLDs.

- .org: Acronym for organisation, which was designed for non-profit making organizations,

but which, as in the case of .com, now has a generic use.

- .edu: Acronym for education and which has kept its essence as a name which refers to

universities and the education field.

- .gov: Acronym for government, which is exclusively reserved for institutions and

organisations of the US government.

- .mil: Acronym for military, exclusively reserved for the US army.

- .int: Acronym for International, reserved for any organisation established through an

international treaty between sovereign governments, such as the former European Union website (europa.eu.int) or the NATO website (http://www.nato.int), for example.

Non-sponsored gTLD

These have been created, like the previous ones, since 2000, and can be defined as generic domains with no community to support them or to determine or control their use. In this group, the following domain names can be found:

- .biz: Acronym for business which is reserved exclusively for companies, even though

there is no kind of control of the authenticity of the registration data and which, therefore, can be considered a free use domain.

- .info: Acronym for information. This is a domain created with a generic nature and is of

free use.

- .name is a domain designed for individuals who want to register their name and last

names in order to use them on the Net.

- .pro: Acronym for professional, which is designed for freelance professionals who wish

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First level domains are approved, recognised and controlled by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

From this point, each first level domain has an organisation or entity which regulates its use and which is free to create as many sub-domains as it considers appropriate. For example, the domain .es is regulated and managed by the public business entity RED.ES, which is the relevant authority for the management of the registration of Internet domain names under the territorial code .es. Another example, is the generic domain .cat, which is regulated and managed by the foundation puntCAT, which is in charge of registering Internet domain names under the cultural code .cat.

Written by the Barcelonanetactiva team from the following sources of information:

- Website of the association .CAT

http://www.puntcat.cat

- Website of the ESNIC

https://www.nic.es

- Website of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

http://www.icann.org/

- Website of the Maintenance Agency for ISO 3166 country codes

http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/index.html

- Website of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)

http://www.iana.org/

Barcelona Activa SAU SPM will ensure that this information and the data contained in the reports are accurate and