Web Address and Domain Names

Every Web site(and every file on a site)has its own address，made up of a sequence of characters in a particular order．This address is known as URL(Uniform Resource Locator)，although non-specialists very often refer to URLs simply as Web addresses．

The domain name is the part of the URL which identifies the company or organization，type of organization，and often the country．

A fully qualified host name of acomputer on the Internet such as www.domainit.com(Figure 3)，has three major parts:the host name，the domain name and the top-level domain(TLD)．Most Web servers use www as the host name．The most common top-level domain is.com，which stands for commercial．Other toplevel domains include.org，.net，.gov(for government sites)，.edu(for education sites)and two-letter abbreviations for countries，such as.ca for Canada and.fr for France．Because many of the com top-level domain names are taken，some companies are now purchasing a.cc domain name．

Figure 3:www.domainit.com

Computers use IP(Internet Protocol)addresses to identify machines．IP addresses consist of numbers and dots，for example:194．78．176．323．

These addresses are difficult for people to remember easily，however，so we usually use memorable domain names like the one above(www.domainit.com)．DNS(Domain Name System)enables servers to translate a memorable domain into an IP address．

Practical Task

1．Visit the following sites which assist you in searching for，registering and purchasing domain names:

www.register.com(Figure 4)

www.networksolutions.com(Figure 5)

www.alldomains.com(Figure 6)

Figure 4:www.register.com

Figure 5:www.networksolutions.com

Figure 6:www.alldomains.com

2．After you have observed the above Web sites，you might want to register a domain name yourself．If you know the IP address of the Web site hosting the domain name，you can contact Network Solutions directly，or you can register a domain name with a registrar．The following steps describe how to register a domain name with a registrar:

1)The customer contacts a registrar and provides contact information(name，company，address)and technical information(computer system，connection)．

2)The registrar submits the technical information to the registry—which is a central directory of domain names．

3)The registry provides other computers on the Internet with the customer's e-mail address and Web site address．

4)The customer agrees to a registration contract with the registrar．The contract specifies the terms under which the registered domain name is accepted and maintained．